Vare makes final squad for Barras

Sports

FORMER national Under-19 batsman Hila Vare has been named in the Papua New Guinea Barramundis squad for the July 8-9 Twenty-20 (T20) World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
The 2021 SP Sports Awards’ male athlete of the year was among the final 14-man squad that was named by head coach Carl Sandri ahead of their departure next week for a tour of South Africa.
Sandri told The National that although it was disappointing to select a smaller squad compared with their previous tours, he remained confident the Assad Vala-captained squad would deliver positive results.
While Jack Gardner has missed the cut, Chad Soper has been picked alongside Norman Vanua, Amini, Tony Ura, Lega Siaka and Sema Kamea and Vala.
Vare will be expected to prove his worth in his maiden Barramundis tour, given his 80 runs in Japan during the U19 World Cup East Asia-Pacific division one qualifiers in 2019.
“We have quite a good batting group at the moment,” Sandri said.
“We’re in form with the bat, so we looked at consolidating our top-six. We knew which six players who we wanted for those roles. It gave us flexibility for all-rounders and bowlers.
“We keep pressuring those in the squad that they were chosen for a reason and they have a job to do.
“We picked them for this tour because we think they’re our best 14.”
Barramundis: Assad Vala (captain), Charles Amini Jr (vice-captain), Norman Vanua, Tony Ura, Lega Siaka, Sema Kamea, Riley Hekure, Sese Bau, Chad Soper, Hila Vare, Damien Ravu, Alei Nao, Kabua Vagi Morea, Simon Atai.