Cricket

Vanuatu had won the toss and elected to bowl first.

However, PNG bowlers made their presence known with home ground advantage, bowling out the visitors for a paltry 71 runs in their 20 overs with eight wickets down. Vanuatu batters regularly lost wickets and struggled to score runs.

The best of PNG bowlers, John Noel Kariko (3/6 in 4 overs), was supported by Charles Amini (2/10), Norman Vanua (2/13) and Alei Nao (1/23).

The PNG batsmen chased a modest total made easy, cruising past their target one wicket down (1/75) in 6 overs.

The programme is managed by Cricket PNG after it was launched in 2022. Initially rolled out in three provinces: NCD, Central, and Gulf, the programme was designed to help children develop personal skills and promote positive behaviours through the sports of Cricket.

The 14 man squad including four CPNG officials left the country in good spirits for Darwin last Friday for the lead up training camp before the ICC U19 Men’s CWC East Asia Pacific Qualifier 2023.

The Garamuts team is:

(1) Tau Trevor GRIFFIN (c), 2) Nelson PATE (vc), 3) Ware ROBIN, 4) Dauncey TOM, 5) James Frank MOMO, 6) Igo Pako MOREA, 7) Gaba FRANK, 8)Razmi Stanley BAU, 9) Methuselah WILLIAM, 10) Anthony Tamarua DAVID, 11) Suvenia Sean TAU, 12) Nao TAU, 13) Aluend Robson BOGE, 14) Martin TABOA.

Twenty-three-year-old Hannah and her 21-year-old brother hail from East Sepik and East New Britain.

They come from a family where no one else plays cricket except them and their younger brother.

The three of them have always bonded over the sport, spending countless hours playing together.

While Gabriel has already made it to the A grade, Hannah has her sights set even higher. She dreams of playing professionally someday, and has already shown promise as a talented player.

She is known as a strong batter and a strategic bowler.

With both bat and ball, the Barramundis were in a position of strength to take the game but couldn’t finish off.

With the ball PNG a Chad Soper clinic had the UAE on the ropes at 5/89 but a late order rally from the Emirates saw them post a competitive 260, a target however not out of reach.

With the bat PNG had a perfect platform sitting pretty at 0/146 of 20 Overs. From there it should have been an easy victory but a string of low scores saw the Barramundis collapse and the UAE roar to victory by 21 runs.

The Lewas, as the national side are called, are known for their uniquely exciting playing style. 

Coach Kath Hemptenstall says the team, which includes seven mothers, has overcome significant hurdles simply to play.

"We've just got the one turf wicket in the whole country and a couple of turf nets," Hemptenstall says.

"It rains for four months of the year and we don't have any indoor facilities as well.

"When you take all that into consideration, it's pretty impressive that both our men's and women's sides have got to where they have."

The sport is part and partial of this community since many years ago but did not happen for a long time, and so the people of Kapari-Viriolo were very happy to see it happen.

Port Moresby Konepoti CC President, Puana Agi said it is the first time for such a tournament to be hosted in the village.

He said the first three days of the tournament teams will play the normal full games with four teams in each of the two pools. That is Pool A and B.

Thousands turned up at the airport to welcome Papua New Guinea’s cricket team on that sunny day in 2019. They wore the team’s colors and carried its flag and cheered their returning heroes, the players and coaches who had just qualified the nation for cricket’s Twenty20 world championship for the first time.

More than a few people, in the crowd and in the team, were in tears.

Cairns, one of New Zealand’s all-time greats, suffered an aortic dissection -- a tear in the body’s main artery -- last week in Canberra and is understood to have had several surgeries since.

However, the former Black Caps skipper “has not responded to treatment as hoped”, Newshub said and was transported to St Vincents Hospital in Sydney on Tuesday night.

“Mr Cairns is in a serious but stable condition in ICU at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney after being transferred from Canberra”, a hospital spokerson told Stuff.co.nz on Wednesday morning.

Kohli had returned home to attend the birth of his daughter after the opening test loss, leaving behind a deflated side who were skittled out for 36 in Adelaide - their lowest innings score in 88 years of test cricket.

Under stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, India levelled the series in Melbourne and drew in Sydney before triumphing in Brisbane to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

"WHAT A WIN!!! Yessssss. To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up and take notice," Kohli tweeted after India's three-wicket victory at the Gabba.