Vanuatu Cricket Association have announced the men’s and women’s squads for the upcoming 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, where cricket discipline will be played during the first week of the games from Jul 07th – 13th, 2019. All matches involving the ICC Associate members in the games will be played with official T20I status and points will be counted towards ICC global T20I team rankings.
Vanuatu’s men’s team are the defending Gold medal winners from the 2015 Pacific Games held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Vanuatu will be competing against PNG, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia in the 2019 edition of the games in the bid to defend their title. Vanuatu and PNG were recently in action together in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup EAP regional finals held in PNG, while Samoa and Fiji competed against their higher ranked regional opponents during the EAP sub-regional qualifiers held in Fiji in 2018.
Samoa and Fiji will be making their official debut in the men’s T20I format during the Pacific Games. Matches for New Caledonia in both men’s and women’s fixtures will not be counted towards official T20I games, as they are not an Associate member with International Cricket Council (ICC).
The Women’s squad were in action in May 2019 during the ICC EAP Women’s qualifiers held in Vanuatu, where they made their T20I debut and competed against the regional opponents.
2019 Pacific Games will see SKY New Zealand joining Games partners EMTV, Fiji TV, France TV and Vanuatu TV for the Host Broadcast. TV3 Samoa will serve as the exclusive local broadcast partner and the Games Opening Ceremony from 07th Jul and subsequent Games days action will be available on TV3 and Digicel PlayGo. Samoa 2019 XVI Pacific Games will also be available in Europe, America and Asia on the Olympic Channel, and live streamed to other territories via the Games website – www.samoa2019.ws
Men’s Squad: Andrew Mansale (Captain), Clement Tommy, Gilmour Kaltongga, Jamal Vira, Jelany Chilia, Joshua Rasu, Kalo Shem, Nalin Nipiko, Ronald Tari, Simpson Obed, Wesley Viraliliu, Williamsing Nalisa, Patrick Matautaava & Darren Wotu
Women’s Squad: Selina Solman, Valenta Langiatu, Rachel Andrew, Leimauri Chilia, Leimara Tastuki, Alvina Chilia, Nasimana Navaika, Melissa Velvel Fare, Mahina Tarimiala, Maiylisse Carlot, Christelle Sokomanu, Vicky Mansale & Merielle Kenni
