Vala welcomes challenge

THE Papua New Guinea Barramundis are preparing for the most important tournament in the cricket World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe in a few weeks.
A man who has been leading from the front throughout is captain Assad Vala. He started the qualifying campaign as an integral member of the squad and finished the qualifying campaign as the captain of the Barramundis.
With 399 runs at an average of 30.69 and 14 wickets in 14 games, with the best bowling average in the team of only 19 runs per wicket, it is not hard to see why.
Such is the nature of Vala, instead of baulking at the daunting task of facing the West Indies and Ireland among others, he is embracing the competition.
“I’m looking forward to playing against the opposition and getting the opportunity to qualify for the cricket world cup,” Vala said.
“It won’t be easy but as a group, we are looking for forward to the qualifiers.
“It means a lot to be playing in the World Cup Qualifiers.
“We have worked really hard and given ourselves an opportunity to archive something special as a group.”
The ICC have changed the qualifying format for the 2019 World Cup on the back of the decision to reduce the number of teams at the showpiece event to only 10.
With the top eight countries in the world already qualified on the basis of their ranking, there are only two spots up for grabs.
PNG will be battling eight other teams for those two spots.
Tall mountains to climb, but Vala knows the Hebou-sponsored Barramundis will never give up.
“I’m confident that if we play our best cricket and play to our full potential, I believe we will give ourselves the opportunity to win games and qualify.
“It will be a great feeling to be able to qualify for the World Cup. It’s every cricketers dream to play in a world cup and playing against best players in the world,” the 30-year-old said.
The World Cricket League Championship saw PNG play regular cricket over a course of two years. With the tournament concluding last year, the Barras have traveled to Brisbane to keep up the preparations the World Cup.
“Training has been tough has it would be heading into a really important tournament.
“We are working really hard and trying to prepare the best we can to give ourselves the best opportunity at the qualifiers,” Vala added. With training going ahead in full steam, the signs are only looking positive for skipper Vala and the Barramundis.