Pokana lass youngest to play for Lewas

ERANI Pokana, pictured, who turned 14 in October last year, was the youngest player to be selected in the national women’s cricket team that won the ICC Qualfier East Asia Pacific in Vanuatu on Friday.
Pokana accomplished what many girls her age would see as a dream, to represent her country at senior level in her sport when she was included in the City Pharmacy PNG Lewas squad.
She started playing backyard cricket with her father, brothers and other family members at the age of six, playing socially, while watching the Port Moresby competition from a distance.
Kempa cricket club entered a women’s team in 2017 and this is what sparked Erani’s Interest in taking cricket more seriously. She duly registered and played in the next season, for Kempa, quickly improving her technique in batting and bowling.
Showing potential as a lower order batsman and handy left arm medium pace bowler, Pokana she was identified under the Cricket PNG talent ID programme.
She earned a place in the CPNG academy system and garnered selection into the Lewas 14-man squad for the qualifier in Port Vila.
Countless hours of training after school, dedication, commitment, and passion for the sport has led her to this accomplishment.
She is currently in the eighth grade at Bavaroko Primary School.
She is the niece PNG Barramundis paceman Nosaina Pokana.
Her older brother Varagini is also in the Under-19 Garamuts train-on squad preparing for their tournament in Japan, early June.
Pokana is the youngest in the Lewas but was not the only teenager in the side fellow debutants Henao Thomas 17, Helai Nou 19, and teammate Naoani Vare, 19, that made PNG one of the youngest sides at the tournament.