The story
This decade, in particular, can be dedicated to the rise of the associate nations. The emergence of Ireland and Afghanistan as the new cricket powers is a testament to this fact. They were just another promising associate side. It was not long ago, but as of the year 2017, both Ireland ad Afghanistan are ‘Test nations.’
Consistent limited overs performance and attention grabbing showing during multi-nation ICC tournaments have been the biggest catalyst in their success. Other associate nations are looking up to them and striving hard to gain recognition.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) determined to make the difference
PNG has been one the associates who have bene working hard towards replicate the success which Afghanistan and Ireland have achieved in the recent past. The side has set its eye on the World Cup 2019 and is ready to brush aside all the challenges.
They came close to qualifying for the 2015 World Cup but failed. PNG, however, isn’t worried but results. They are currently placed second in the World Cricket Championship. They need to win their last two matches against Scotland in their WCL Championship to secure a spot in the top-four which would enable them to make it to next year’s World Cup qualifying tournament.
But, before clashing with Scotland in the must-win clashes, PNG will be playing against the National Performance Squad, and Queensland XI over the course of next two months in Australia. This should serve as a great boost to their preparations ahead of their meet with Scotland which is scheduled in October.
A major boost
In a bid to improve the standard of cricket, Papua New Guinea has appointed former Australia pacer and Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie as their interim coach. He will replace former mentor Dipak Patel.
Cricket Papua New Guinea’s chief executive Greg Campbell confirmed the development and stated that the appointment of an experienced coach is to drastically improve the team’s chances of making it to the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
In an interview with cricket.com.au, Gillespie expressed his delight at the prospect of coaching a side like PNG. “I’m really excited about it, as much to have another cricketing experience with another team and another country. It broadens my experiences and broadens my learning and hopefully, it will hold me in good stead going forward. I’ll be interested to see first-hand how these guys go.”
“I’m just excited to see how these guys go about their work. I’ve heard a lot of very good things. Papua New Guinea played against Yorkshire in Abu Dhabi in the pre-season and I spoke to a few of my friends at Yorkshire and they said the PNG guys were fantastic. Speaking to Tim Nielsen, the high-performance manager at the SACA, he talked about how competitive the PNG guys are in the SACA Premier League.” India