Under-19 women’s team to depart for Australia on Sunday

Sports

THE national Under-19 women’s cricket squad are scheduled to depart on Sunday for an eight-day camp in Darwin, Australia, before next month’s World Cup East Asia-Pacific qualifiers in Bali, Indonesia.
Head coach Kath Hempenstall confirmed with The National yesterday that a 14-man final squad would be travelling, but due to visa delays, the squad had not been finalised yet.
“The tour to Darwin will be a great opportunity to see the PNG Siales’ strengths before we play the best-of-three series against Indonesia for a spot in the World Cup in January,” she said.
“We’ll play some matches in Darwin before flying to Bali on June 27 for the three-day T20 series over three days against Indonesia in July.
“Hopefully, we can get a couple of wins there because whoever gets two wins will go to the World Cup in South Africa.”
Hempenstall said she was excited for the Siales and PNG, given that the tour and qualifiers would be a completely different cultural experience.
“I’m really proud of this group, they’ve played some domestic cricket in the Isuzu competition recently against the senior women’s team (Lewas) who are the country’s best players,” she said.
“They’ve really stood up to the challenge and it’s pleasing to see some wonderful performances from the girls in this competition and further experienced their cricket development.
“I’m really looking forward to them playing together as a team which the girls haven’t had the chance to do yet.
“We are waiting for a few visas to come through so hopefully that doesn’t disrupt our plans.”