THE Papua New Guinea national cricket team Barramundis are months away to one of their biggest world event, the T20 World Cup.
After qualifying for the T20 World Cup back in 2019, ‘Barra’s’ are on target to smash some big hits as India play host to this much anticipated international sporting event.
The clear standout for 2021 is the Barra’s participation which they have waited an extra 12 months but the excitement levels are still sky-high for their debut at an ICC World Cup.
Even though playing the World Cup in Australia would be just as grand, a historic debut in India, where cricket is considered a religion, can only raise pulses even higher. This does not consider the different conditions than what Head Coach Joe Dawes and the Barramundis had prepared for in Australia.
The build-up to the October tournament is just as important and exciting for cricket fans in Papua New Guinea. There are two Cricket World Cup (CWC) League Two tri-series scheduled to be played in Papua New Guinea against Scotland & Oman then Namibia and the USA in 2021. These ODI fixtures will play a vital role in preparing for the T20 World Cup, giving players time and opportunity to hone their skills with both bat and ball, and prepare to deal with the playing under pressure against high quality opposition.
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.”
There is plenty of cricket for the Barramundis with the Men’s 50-over Isuzu National Cup and Men’s T20 Smash tournaments.
The second edition of the Isuzu National Cup will serve as proving ground for current squad members keep practicing and honing their skills and provide an opportunity for players outside the squad to stake a claim for a spot in the T20 World Cup squad, and the squad looking ahead to the qualifying pathway for the 2023 ODI World Cup, also set for India.
Head Coach Joe Dawes said, “The more 50 over games we can play, the better the Barramundis will get at the T20 format of the game. Practicing in the nets can never really replicate match scenarios, so with our international fixtures spread out throughout the year, it becomes more important for the Barramundis to play longer form cricket. Come August, we will play the T20 Smash tournament, as we ramp up our preparations for the T20 World Cup in October. The Barramundis and High-Performance staff will have learnt plenty from the CWC and National Cup fixtures, and this will be one of our final opportunities to finalise preparations for the World Cup squad.”
