Support staff vital to CPNG

Here we are — one week closer to getting some cricket happening.
We are planning some great domestic cricket for next month and August, and I can’t wait for it to start.
The players have not played a game since October and are also raring to get back onto the field and play the game they love.
So another week has passed and I don’t have any cricket to write about but thought I should tell you about the people behind the scenes in our high performance unit.
In terms of coaching, I am blessed to have two cricket legends running the show while I have been stuck at home in Australia.
John Ovia and Maharu Dai need no introduction for Papua New Guinea cricket fans, having represented the Barramundis (national men’s team) for many years.
Ovia has been coaching for more than 10 years now and he is the old head of the group.
Well respected on and off the field, he represents the struggles that former players had to endure so that the new breed of Barramundis could enjoy being full-time cricketers.
Having only recently retired in 2018, Dai is new to coaching and he volunteered his services for six months before becoming part of our staff.
He has a passion for women’s cricket and runs the Lewas (national women’s team) programme while Kristen Beams is not in the country.
The newest member of our coaching unit is Tommy John. He worked on game development before moving to the high performance unit.
He records the game and keeps all the statistics. He then provides feedback to the players on their performance and opponents.
Tommy was part of the staff in Dubai last year when we qualified for this year’s T20 World Cup — not bad for a first trip on a plane.
The next person to mention is a quiet achiever. Rodney Maha who comes from cricketing royalty as his father played for the Barramundis and has also been a past chairman of the board and a current life member.
Maha is in charge of talent identification. He is a quiet man but does a great job running programmes in the provinces and scouting players for the Curtain Bros T20 Smash.
Last but not the least in our strength and conditioning team is Otto Wrakonei. He comes to us from a rugby background but has brought new ideas into the women’s programme. He is a big man with a great personality and is driving new standards and performances.
I have left this one till last because without Meiling Choong, we would not have been able to get through the last three months. She is an accomplished sportswoman in her own right, having represented PNG in rugby sevens and has been with us for nearly two years.
Choong first started as the Lewas’ strength and conditioning assistant but through hard work and dedication, she has risen to run our sports science and medicine department.
She runs the Barramundis’ programme and has been to Adelaide, Australia, and the United Kingdom to further her skills. Choong has earned the respect of the Barramundis and myself through her hard work. We are lucky to have her and I know that the Barramundis are in good hands while I am away.
That’s it from me and I hope that the next column I write, I will be doing from isolation in Port Moresby. Till then, stay safe and take care.

Cheers,
Joe