Young Cricket and Papua New Guinea
eat Cricket, drink Cricket, sleep Cricket
When I am writing this, there are about five international cricket tournaments being played at different corners of the globe, including a World Cup. Needless to say, there’s more cricket happening than we can keep track of. CB Series and NZ-England have had their share of fame, but now I’d like to bring your notice to the Under-19 World Cup Cricket, especially since amidst the IPL ho-hum no one really cares a dime about that little (or big?) tournament.
There isn’t much to talk about, though, as there haven’t been any surprises. The results are what you’d expect if this was an actual World Cup. The biggest upset so far has been the hosts Malaysia dumping Zimbabwe by 70 runs. Good for the domestic fans, they have something to cheer about at least. They had lost to Pakistan, though, in a previous fixture.
However, most interesting to me is the presence of Papua New Guinea in the tournament. Honestly, I didn’t know they knew how to play cricket. For the ignorant, this place was the center of a lot unrest surrounding their problems with Indonesia a few years ago. It’s a tiny nation located right next to the Indonesian territory of Irian Jaya (no, I didn’t look that up. Remember it from standard eight geography). It’s mostly made of tribal people, and Rugby is probably the only sport they play professionally. Interesting how cricket is spreading. Could we expect Papua to play in, say, a senior Word Cup few years from now? Not if the current method (non-method, to be true) of qualification continues to be in place.
Surprise fact: While it’s quite close to Equator, Papua experiences considerable amount of snowfall as well, mainly owing to its mountainous regions.
Heh. That’s my little attempt at distracting myself (and you guys) from IPL.
Tags: cricket, IPL, papua new guinea, under 19 cricketRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cricket, Major Tournaments
9 opinions for Young Cricket and Papua New Guinea
Biplob Kishore Deb
Feb 21, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Thank you for your interesting article.
There is an interesting thing about Papua New Guinea. The U-19 world cup squad of Papua New Guinea includes two brothers- Captain Colin Amini and Charles Amini. Their elder bother, Chris captained U-19 and the senior team of Papua New Guinea. Grandfather Brian and father Charles also captained Papua New Guinea senior team. Their mother, Kune, also led the women’s team of Papua New Guinea. I do not know if there is any such cricket family in the world.
Ottayan
Feb 22, 2008 at 1:31 am
Dinnie,
It took me by surprise to learn that Nepal has a strong cricket team.
I am as usual cheering for our boys.
Dinnie
Feb 22, 2008 at 4:46 pm
That’s very interesting, Kishore.Thanks!
Nepal is basically India. No big deal. India is doing really well. Just won against WI.
Baseer
Feb 22, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Considering that Papua New Guinea is one of the countries of the Commonwealth Realm might have had a bearing as far as them playing cricket is concerned I guess.
There has been one Papua New Guinea-born Test cricketer too that I can think of. The Papua New Guinea-born Aussie-Welshman who played for England - Geraint Jones.
Dinnie
Feb 23, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for sharing that tidbit, Bas. Seeing you in these parts after a long, long time…
Why, you’ve been studying like me these days?
Bas
Feb 24, 2008 at 12:45 pm
‘Pretending’ to study would explain it better. Is that what you’ve been doing too? Oops, I wasn’t supposed to spill that out!
Dinnie
Feb 24, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Yeah, me too; that’s what I’ve been doing all these three years (hehe). When are your tests? Mine start March 11.
I think I should better stop pretending and actually get my BIC.
Bas
Feb 26, 2008 at 8:44 am
Exams in May but I am worried about my dissertation which has a mid-April deadline :(
Dinnie
Feb 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do well.
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