CEO of Cricket PNG (CPNG), Greg Campbell says it will be exciting and history in the making for PNG to host three International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned matches this month.
CPNG will be hosting Namibia in the round 4 ICC Intercontinental Cup (ICUP) and World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) matches at Amini Park.
The ICUP is a four day match that starts this Sunday. It will run from October 16-19.
“This will be CPNG’s first ever first-class 4-Day fixture in PNG,” said Campbell.
“Unfortunately we had to move our ICUP round 3 home fixture against Ireland to Townsville earlier in the year after the facilities were not ready to host such a fixture in PNG.
“Now we have the all clear from the ICC after successfully hosting Kenya a couple of months ago and we are all very excited at hosting such an historic event.
“On the field it promises to be a tough encounter with two quality teams battling it out in the four-Day (ICUP) and 50 Over (WCLC) matches,” said Campbell.
The ICUP is the ICC’s premier first-class tournament, and is an integral part of the Associate Members’ cricket schedule.
The side that wins the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 round-robin league will play the bottom-ranked Test team on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings in the ICC Test Challenge in 2018.
The HEBOU PNG Barramundis are currently sitting in sixth place on 20 Points, one place ahead of Namibia who is also on 20 points after three rounds of the competition.
The ICC WCLC is an elite 50 over competition and pathway for participating teams to play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in 2018 and subsequently have a chance to qualify for ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
The HEBOU PNG Barramundis are currently fourth position, on 8 points while Namibia is sitting in seventh position on 2 points.
Namibia flies into Port Moresby this Friday.