Rise of PNG Cricket

Imagine a country that has more players playing cricket than they do in Australia. Imagine a country where cricket surely is one of the most popular sports and perhaps cricket is the sport where the national team has given the best performance internationally. The country looks like a Test Nations and perhaps the name that could strike may be New Zealand, Zimbabwe or may be upcoming countries like Kenya or Ireland. Well with 50000 youngsters playing the country, it is PNG or Papua New Guinea

Now the question that comes into the mind of many readers is that where is PNG. PNG is a small country that is North of Australia and East of Indonesia. It is a country which has over 1000 Languages and little common across various tribes. The only major city in the country is Port Morbesy while rest of the population lives rural

Cricket like at most places was introduced to PNG by the missionaries when it was under British Rule.It was really picked up by the various tribes. It is to till this day a form of cricket known as  Trobiand Cricket which is played by many tribes and is the most popular sport game.

Trobiand Cricket: The form of Cricket picked by Tribal's when it was introduced by missionaries. It is the most popular game of tribals.

Besides the tribes the game was popular amongst the various expats from Australia and Britain in the capital Port Morbesy. A team of 9 Expats and 2 Indigenous players became the first official team of PNG that played against Australia in 1972.

It is the capital where the game started to pick up. The game started to pick up in the capital, most recognizably the village of Hanuabada, a village is located on the outer suburbs of Port Moresby.

Cricket is so popular in the village of Hanuabada that everyday afternoon the streets are flooded with boys playing cricket. 9 out of the 11 members of present team come from this village

Children can be seen playing cricket every afternoon in the village of Hanuabada, just outside the capital Port Morbesy, PNG

With the cricket roots so strong PNG Cricket Board started it's efforts to take Cricket to other areas of PNG. They started to organize the cricket across the tribes to tap the natural talent there. The board also started various initiatives Liklik Kricket to take cricket to kids around the capital.

The board then collaborated with sponsors to form initiatives like BSP Cricket to take cricket to kids, Dulux "don't drink and drive" and various other efforts has raised the profile of the game. The board also ensure that they got more schools and colleges into the game so that talent keeps pouring in

Initiatives like the tie up with BSP have been really successful in PNG

It was over the years of these efforts to take the game of cricket to kids and across the nations produced great results. By 2010 we have over 50000 people playing the game in PNG. PNG which finished a low 11th in 1995 ICC Trophy and probably one of the lower ranked teams.

The team improved performance year after year. Finally in 2011 they reached their best ever performance when got a rank 3 in World Cricket League division 2 and hence qualified for World Cup qualifiers. This also meant that they improved the ICC ranking to 19. They further improved and gave even a better performance and finished 8th in the tournament out of 16 teams. They finished 4th in the group and just missed qualification to next round

PNG team hold great promise. We might see them challenging the big boys soon

Cricket hold great future in the country and more exposure perhaps someday making it into the Inter Continental Cup would really help break the country in the biggest league. The future looks bright and let's hope we get to see them play 2015 which is being help right in their continent.

India should take Cricket Diplomacy in Burma

I have always said that sports is the best form of Diplomacy. If you talk about Cricket you can strongly relate it to 2 places- The founder England, and area where Cricket is Religion- South Asia.

England no doubt took Cricket to most of the places in the world and they presently have a strong legacy for the game, but it is the South Asians that have brought in the passion, where Cricketers are considered as god.South Asians have migrated, immigrated, emigrated to all corners of the World, be it Spanish speaking South America or Europe. These people might have left their countries but their love for the game stays. An NRI (Non Resident Indians) or his counterparts from Pakistan or Bangladesh would wake up nights so that they can see their Super Stars playing Cricket.


And did this passion stay in these countries. Lets go back in past a little. Till 80's the 2 nations from South Asia were India and Pakistan. Seeing the passion in a India Pakistan games inspired many in other South Asian countries. The Sri Lanka who also had a strong cricket culture, who with support from India also soon became a "Test Team" and a cricket force. Then it was the turn of Bangladesh. The World Cup coming to South Asia inspired many Bangladeshi's and many had a wish to see their team playing in the World. Their wish came true in 1999 World Cup and soon they also reached the top flight and became a Test Nations.

Now this cricket flavor also took over 2 more South Asian countries- Afghanistan & Nepal. So much is the passion in these countries that when they had domestic team and U-19 teams playing the grounds were filled with thousands of people. The Afghan's who picked up the game in the Refugee camps in Pakistan, inspired by Imran Khan (Who is a Pashtun, the Biggest ethnic group of Afghanistan) and his 1992 World Cup, had a fairy tale story, starting from Div 5 to make it to the World Twenty20.

Nepal picked the game from many Indians who worked in India and the advent of Cable TV back in the country. Nepal is at a growth story and will not be surprised if they are counted amongst the top associate in 2015 WC Onwards

The other 2 smaller nations of South Asia Maldives and Bhutan despite having small populations have also punched much above their weight in Cricket too.

Cricket diplomacy has worked for South Asia. Most recently the World Cup semi finals in Mohali broke some ice between nations and the 2 prime ministers watched the match. In 1988 Zia Ul Haq flew to Jaipur to watch a match and is known to have averted a war between the 2 nations. During BJP led NDA, both India and Pakistan toured each other and those were the best times as many buses were started, fans traveled and welcomed in other country.

Myanmar, like most South Asian countries has been a part of British Empire. They played a First Class match against a Ceylon(Sri Lanka) team and had defeated them in past. They also played first class matches against MCC during that time. It is rather surprising that Cricket until now was non existent there.

The reason behind that was before independence the country came under Japanese rule who encouraged the local Burmese to against everything British. Also Cricket like in most places was played by the elite which was the British and Indians. The Burmese hated both these and Cricket also became a victim as sports of the Elite. After Independence everything British was shunned, the Indians were forced out hence all trace of Cricket was gone. Also then the country went into isolation which brought any chance of resurgence.

It was after ICC went into expansion mode that Myanmar was included as a Affiliate Member. Cricket then made a resurgence in the country. A movie Bo Ba based on Lagan was popular across the country. The country has built first stadium outside Yangoon. But still the game was limited to Yangoon and country still closed to outsiders

Cricketers like Dhoni can both people closer

Now with the country opening up and all countries trying to make inroads in the mineral rich country. India a very important neighbor and has historical links with the country. It was the country which for many years supported the democracy movement. With China making inroads it started co-operation with the Military Junta. Now with both sides patched up India finds itself in good position.

Now to take things to next steps, and reaching out to people, India needs use the powerful tool of sports. India to start with needs to bring in coaches and reach the schools in the major cities of Yangoon and Mandalay. This will help introduce Cricket to children who through the sports will come to know a lot about Indians. Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni and how they are followed will help people to know inside in India. Second to this India needs to bring in some stars and help spread diplomacy through cricket.

India also then needs to develop infrastructure of Cricket in Major 2-3 Cities and perhaps after Cricket reaches to some knowledge level help set up the league. Talking with the government, India can use Bollywood+Cricket through Lagaan, IPL and make inroads.

This is easier said than done, and a focused effort is required. However India must understand through this and cricket establishing, India can bring people of both countries closer which will take relationship to next level. When hearts of people meet the rest of things follow soon. India has such an advantageous tool to its advantage and should maximize it.

Dassanayke: Missing Pacers & Exposure?

When Nepal went into the ICC World Twnety20 Qualifiers they were the bottom most seeded teams. All the teams were had played Div 3 or above, Nepal had the highest as Div 4. Nepal was considered a better team in the ODI format and were not expected to make much impact in the T20 format

But the team under the new Dynamic coach Pubudu Dassanayke surely exceeded all the expectation. To start with they came 7th in the tournament and in the process defeated teams like former World Cup semi finalists Kenya, Former World Cup team Bermuda, along with Div 2 teams PNG, HK and Div 3 (Now 4) team Denmark.

The team had many positives from the tournament and some before them. Before the tournament there were some reshuffle's in CAN. Elections also took place. Then a small step towards Central Contracts was taken. A stipend of 5000 Rs was started for all the players.

On the field the batting showed some promise. Batsman were able to have the confidence to try some new shots. The Spin bowling always a strength came in full strength through Shakti Gauchan. The team could be seen challenging the bigger names like Canada.

Having said all that the tournament also exposed some areas where it needs to address them very seriously if it wishes to be along the likes of Afghanistan and Ireland.

Nepal surely need a match winner like Hamid Hassan

1. Pacers (Fast Bowling)
The best teams in the tournament had some of the best pacers be it Dawlat Zadran the sensational pacer of Afghanistan or be it Boyd Rankin of Ireland. The best test teams have always have had a some form of Battery of Pacers, be it Bret Lee, McGrath or Allan Donald or Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar.

Indians who are not known to have the best Pace Battery but always have a Pacer who is a match winner. Zaheer Khan was critical for India and helped them win the World Cup.

Presently Nepal does not have a quality pace attack and without them it would struggle. This is an area that is ultra critical to Nepal and their cricket future. The coach has already taken an effort where he went with a speed gun but alas not much results. Not to be demoralized with the same, the management simply needs to go on a national wide hunt of a pacer. They need to get some young, raw talent and develop him for the future. If you know some one share about him and help your national team

Keeping the 2015 World Cup in sight this effort should start immediately without any delay

2. Exposure
The way team played and gave against Netherlands and Canada was a case of pressure taking over the team and not because they were inferior to these teams. The team did play some practice matches against local clubs in Delhi and sources tell that CAN was not even ready for that. They did not much hopes from the team and want to "waste" money on the effort

Exposure plays critical role in building the team temperament and let's the captain and coach know much more about the players. Taking cue from my old times, when I played cricket after a long time I was rusty. The rustiness was over, but playing cricket inside my gully team brought saturation in the learning curve. It was when we played more matches against other teams that we could explore our own strengths and weakness and how to overcome the X factor

Similarly Nepal team playing closed camps will saturate. Many players have openly stated the need for the same. If the team had got to be a part of Ranji in 2003-4 then it could have been on the lines of Bangladesh. That oppurtunity though lost, and letting past be the past the management should give team more exposure.

The exposure can be either playing the domestic league either in India or Sri Lanka. It could also mean inviting other Associate team like Afghanistan, Ireland, UAE to come and play matches in all 3 forms. The team could also tour other countries where it can get exposure to different conditions.

This would need CAN to get out of it's rusty set up and think for the future and be more assertive in contacting more boards. Ireland have been very aggressive on this aspect and it has helped them over time. Such was the impact that team has performed really well, but also even though Ireland suffered one of the worst case of European Crisis, the team never lost a sponsor.

This would be very critical times for the Nepal team. The coach has been making the right impact, but he surely needs help from the Board on the above 2 factors. The coach get that then the team surely can knock the doors of the top 10 nations. Best of luck

Time for a Peace Series

Sports is a big uniting force. This is not a new fact but known to almost all. When Pakistan played Afghanistan in Sharjah, the though usually divided nation was completely united behind the match. President Hamid Karzai was known to be curious about the score. The biggest thing however which should raise eyebrows is that even Taliban called and wished luck to the cricket team and have openly declared that they will continue to support Cricket even after they come to power.

Remember this is the same Taliban who had banned all sports including even Kite Flying!!!! How come they are supporting Cricket. Well that is the power of sports, that it can melt even the most of the hardliners too.

Can the 4 Captains be the Peacemakers- MS Dhoni (Ind), Misbhah (Pak), Nowroz Mangal(Afg) & Sushil Nadkarni (USA)

Now what would be the most vulnerable place that can cause the 2012 Myth to come true? No it is not Israel. I give you a hint, that Area contains about a fifth of World Population, it has 2 of the 9 countries with Nuclear Weapons. Yes you got it right. It is South Asia.

Peace and South Asia are not synonymous. At one side we have 2 biggest Rivals India and Pakistan. Then we have Afghanistan where the word peace is tipped to be knocked off the Dictionary. The others do not also fare better. The USA lead forces with all their might have been trying to bring control in the countries but without much results.

But where Bullets and Bombs could do nothing, the Ball can do a lot. Not any other ball but over favorite Cricket ball should come into play. Afghanistan is a cricket mad country. USA is the second biggest cricket market due to the influential South Asian community there. Besides USA and Afghanistan itself, India and Pakistan are also major players for peace in the country. Without these 2 nothing will move forward and inch and what is good, these 2 nations are also absolutely cricket crazy.

USA has tried the other route and perhaps it is the time where it should move ahead and try this route to move ahead. Let the rivalries come out on the Cricket pitch and not in the countryside.

US should declare the intention of a peace series to kick start the stalled peace process and go ahead and invite the teams from Ind, Pak & Afg to visit USA and host a quadrangular series the "Peace Series". It should push the governments to arrange for teams to take out time for these series. Obama can surely push Sharad Pawar, Manmohan Singh, Gilani & Karzai to force the 4 boards to send their best teams.

Can Obama arrange the 4 boards to come for the Peace Series

 Imagine the likes of India and Pakistan playing each other. The though of the 2 in the peace series will create vibe all over the world. Involving Afghanistan and USA would bring a much more holistic perceptive. Afghans surely will be happy to be involved with the 2 best cricket nations and the nation can feel proud behind their team. USA Cricketers will relish the chance to play these 3 top teams which they may never get in the country. A lot of goodwill can be created in all the 3 South Asian countries for USA. Perhaps the cricket emotional South Asians would be happy to support Obama for next elections for raising the profile of their favorite sports in their country.

USA which has got a lot of negative publicity in Pak & Afg would get many positive vibes as sports makes people forget everything. With such a positive start then it can be followed by more diplomatic initiatives. Cricket is the ice breaker that USA presently needs.

Lastly the ICC should also encourage such a move as
1. Cricket will make all the right moves in it's strategic market of USA
2. It can generate lot of revenues for ICC if it decides to organize it
3. ICC get a good name

At present there is no such talk, but if US was to open it's eyes, it is one of the significant ways to get all the moves right with just 1 sports tournament. I hope that some diplomat in US will look outside for ideas and makes peace return to a fifth of world population.

Who will win the ICC Twenty20 Qualifiers?

This is a very difficult question and the right answer is really difficult to guess. It is a tournament with too many teams and too little slots to fill. Over that the teams are all really competitive with almost all teams on their day have capability to defeat all other teams. However said that not all teams have an equal chance. Given the squads, exposure of various team I would put the chances as follows

THE FAVORITES
1. IRELAND
They are the most popular associates and clearly the favorites. They have got a great intelligent Captain who makes the most of the resources. The resources definitely are exciting lead by the dangerous Kevin O'Brien famous for his fastest century in the World Cup or the young and Exciting George Dockrell. The team has the talent and it will be tough be tough for most teams to overcome this talent

Can O'Brien repeat the performance. Let's hope so

2. AFGHANISTAN
They are a nation filled with passion for Cricket. Cricket unites this war ravaged country and the cricketers are the national stars. Afghanistan has one of the most potent talents who on their day can take on the mightiest names in Cricket. A fiery pace attack led by Hamid Hassan who can easily made place in most of the test sides or the calm and composed captain Nawroz Mangal, they would be making the most likely finalist with Ireland

He can single handily rip apart any Line Up

3. SCOTLAND
Surprised to hear this name. The Scots have a flourishing team whose average age is 24. The team stayed away from limelight as they missed out for 2011 WC, but in 2011 they have a performance that needs to looked into. They have played 4 ODI's and won 3, 2 against Netherlands and 1 against Ireland. They lost the 1 match to Sri Lanka. This is a team with real power works and taking them lightly is asking for trouble

GOOD BETS
1. NETHERLANDS
Surprised this name is not there in the favorites, well don't be. The biggest name and star is not playing the qualifiers, yes we are talking of ten Doeschate is not playing and hence this clearly puts them off the field of favorites. Having said that the team has still got some good talent and surely have a clear chance to make it to Sri Lanka

Netherlands surely will miss him

2. KENYA
Are you judging them by their performance in 2011 WC, well if the answer is yes, then my recommendation don't be fooled by that.  After the disastrous campaign the management has put all ticks in the preparation for this tournament. Firstly they formed the domestic structure which was important. Then they have given the young players loads of exposure which is very critical. The results have not coming in full swings but surely there are good signs. The visiting Irish team did not have it easy for the Inter Continental Matches.

3. CANADA
The performance surely have dropped after the World Cup with the loss of a great player like Ashish Bagai. They are down but never out. With some exciting players like Harvinder Baidwan, Jimmy Hansra or Manny Aulakh and they on their day can take any other team.

A leader lost?

4. NAMIBIA
When Kenya visited them they smashed them 6-2 in a T20 series. Presently they get to play in the Domestic Series in South Africa, whose experience they surely are relishing and the performance can be seen on the field. They have played in a World Cup once and surely would want to reach the top level again. The Burger's form would be critical for the team

PARTY SPOILERS
Here I would like to put teams who have a bleak chance of making into the World T20 but surely can spoil the party of teams who would be running towards it. The big names have to beware of them

1. PNG
The team is a result of hard work put in at Junior level. PNG have a great youth program with largest number of players involved in any Associate. The team has a great bowling line up. The one area where have opportunity is Batting and with former England Wicket Keeper Batsman Greaint Jones, surely makes them a very very dangerous team.

Will he be the X Factor for PNG

2. HONG KONG
Like PNG and Scotland this is a team made from developing the youth. It is a very young team which were the runners up in the Asian region and gave a very close fight to Afghanistan in the finals. They surely can never be taken lightly at any momemt

3. NEPAL
They have the biggest fan base amongst the Associates, a nation filled with passion for the game of Cricket. They got a new coach who was responsible for transforming Canada and doing all things right to do the same in Nepal. The coach is getting good exposure for the team before hits Dubai. The team is the best at Junior Levels who have defeated the likes of SA, BD, NZ & WI and people are hoping that they will this time transform the performance at senior level

He is a local star. Can he make it in International Stage, an area he desrves

4. UGANDA
If we talk of upcoming teams one thing is common amongst them. Be it  Scotland, PNG, HK, Nepal or Uganda. The development of youth is the key for success. The party spoiling could be seen at the African Division One where they defeated the Party of the better rated Namibia and won the tournament. They also made the right noises when their both Franchise's reached the finals in the EAPL. They have been traditional chokers, but this is the tag they would be hoping to get rid of.

5. BERMUDA
Remember a fat man taking a diving catch. Yes it was Bermuda itself. They have tasted the top level once and surely would be wanting to do that again for the most popular game of the country. The team surely have got great talents like David Hemp. Let's see how they fare in their biggest tournament of the year

6. USA
The nation is the second biggest market for Cricket in the world. There are over 20000 active players in the country. The country has got the mix of experience of India, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Australia and England. The team had once surprised the critics and reached the Champion Trophy. But, a big But the limitation is that the sports is run like a personal fiefdom under Mr Dainty where merit is often ignored. Having said that there are certainly some very talented players who can give a run for money to all the top teams in the tournament

Will US Cricket be luck enough to get rid of this sloppy faced Dictator

THE FILLERS
OMAN is a team formed of all but some expats. The team is aging and in T20 format that is not helpful

DENMARK joined the ranks of Scotland and Netherlands but over time the game somehow lost out. The nation has got some talent but I do not expect much action from them

ITALY is a upcoming team which draws its strength from likes of immigrants or overseas players of Italian origin. They overseas players are it X factor but I do not expect them miraculously reach Sri Lanka. Some wins here and there but not much besides that.


Finally this tournament will be a cracker of the tournament. Let us hope the best team makes it to Sri Lanka