What was missed out in 2020 will be back in 2021. Much like the whole world getting back to setting up a better year ahead, Cricket PNG (Papua New Guinea) are also looking forward for a big year in terms of participation in ICC events and qualification events.
A maiden apperance in the ICC T20 World Cup in India for the Men’s national squad, appearance in the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Sri Lanka for the Women’s national squad and appearance in the ICC U19 World Cup qualifiers in Japan for the U19 national squad is what awaits the players in 2021.
The Barramundis (Men’s squad), Lewas (Women’s squad) and Garamuts (U19 squad) will have plenty of events set to take place at home, before they head out to their respective destinations for the ICC tournaments.
Cricket PNG are scheduled to host two Cricket World Cup (CWC) League Two tri-series against Scotland & Oman, followed by Namibia and the USA in 2021. The Barramundis will also have Men’s 50-over Isuzu National Cup and Men’s T20 Smash tournaments at home to prepare for the League 2 tournaments and ICC T20 World Cup.
Head Coach Joe Dawes said, “There is an array of experience in our opposition for these CWC fixtures, including ICC Associate Player of the Decade, Scotland’s Kyle Coetzer and the USA’s Ali Khan who has played in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Pakistan Super League (PSL) and Indian Premier League (IPL). Most importantly, our CWC matches against Oman will be a dress rehearsal for our first match of the T20 World Cup. If we can clean sweep Oman during the series, it will give us an edge for that match on the 18 October. We know that winning early fixtures can really set us up for the tournament, so any advantage we can get over our opposition lifts our chances of going through to the next stage.”
The Lewas squad will also play 50-over Isuzu National Cup at home, to prepare for Women’s World Cup Qualifier, which will be played in Sri Lanka during July 2021, against Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Zimbabwe, USA and the Netherlands with the top three teams then progressing to the World Cup in New Zealand.
Last year, the ICC and Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced that women’s T20 cricket will make a historic appearance at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, scheduled from 28th July to 8th August.
Cricket PNG CEO, Greg Campbell said, “Cricket PNG looks forward to working with the Papua New Guinea National Olympic Committee once the ICC announces the format and details for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers. A number of athletes from boxing, swimming, and weightlifting have proudly represented PNG at the Commonwealth Games, and we hope we can do the country proud as well, by qualifying for the Games. This will help put cricket on the national radar and we hope encourages young girls in the country to pick up a bat and ball and begin their journey to becoming a Lewa.”
Before the year is out, there is an East Asia Pacific (EAP) regional qualifier for the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup scheduled between 03rd – 08th September in Samoa. This tournament is set to be played between Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Samoa and Vanuatu.
The Garamuts (U19 squad) are scheduled to take part in the EAP qualifier, where they will compete against Indonesia, Vanuatu and hosts Japan between 28th of September and 04th of October for the lone qualification spot from the EAP region into the main draw of ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in West Indies.
Head Coach Joe Dawes said, “There is plenty of fantastic young talent in and around domestic cricket in PNG, and the qualifiers present an opportunity for those young men to showcase their talents and move up onto higher honours with the Barramundis. We are up against Japan, who won qualification for the 2020 edition, so we will be using them and the Barramundis debut World Cup appearance as motivation to go one step further, to seal a berth in the 2022 Under 19s Men’s World Cup.”
