T20 Smash hailed a success following conclusion of competition

THE Isuzu Men’s T20 Smash has been hailed as a success following four weekends of competition that concluded on Saturday at the Amini Park in Port Moresby.
Tournament director Lakani Oala said preparations before and during the competition was good despite the bad weather conditions.
“The preparation was good, we were looking forward to a good tournament however the rainy weather sort of interrupted and we had a wet ground to deal with,” Oala said.
“But our grounds men did a fantastic job keeping it up to date with the greenery field which allowed the four teams to play their matches leading into the finals.
“The players especially the Under-19s have enjoyed this tournament very much because they were playing for and against some of their idols currently in the PNG Barras team.”
Oala said it was a great tournament and they would now prepare to host the women’s competition this weekend.
“We are looking forward to bringing the girls home from next week. This will also be the first competition without the presence of the last PNG Lewas captain late Kaia Arua,” he said.
“Her passing gave us a bit of a tricky situation during the men’s tournament but we managed to give her (Kaia) a proper farewell before the men’s completed their finals today (Saturday).”
Meanwhile, the PNG Barras and the current U19 Garamuts squad had ample time to prepare for this competition unlike the women, especially for the PNG Lewas who return today from their Zimbabwe and United Arab Emirates tour and straight into training.
“Unlike the Barramundis who had a benefit of a two-week rest, the Lewas return this week and will head straight into competitions,” he said.