Papua New Guinea is the strongest team in the ICC East Asia-Pacific region, winning most ICC regional tournaments and having a similar record in the cricket tournament at the Pacific Games.[7][10] The team has also played in every edition of the World Cup Qualifier (previously the ICC Trophy).[11] Papua New Guinea holds the world record for the highest score in a one-day match, making 572/7 against New Caledonia in 2007.[12]
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its Members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Papua New Guinea and other ICC members since 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.[13]
History
Beginnings
Cricket was introduced to the Territory of Papua by missionaries in the 1890s, and the local population soon took up the game. Matches were not always played to strict rules, with teams of more than fifty players a common occurrence. Cricket did not arrive in the Territory of New Guinea until Australia took over the administration of the territory under a United Nations mandate.[7]
Cricket in rural areas tended to be played mostly by the indigenous population, whilst in urban areas such as Port Moresby the game was played mostly by the British and Australian expatriate population, and a competition for clubs in the city was started in 1937. A team of nine expatriate and two indigenous players played in Papua New Guinea's first international, against Australia[7] in 1972.[14]
Since its beginnings cricket was picked up naturally in the Motuan areas of Papua New Guinea, most recognisably the village of Hanuabada. Hanuabada village is located on the outer suburbs of Port Moresby, here cricket is played everyday from small children to their national stars, every afternoon the streets are flooded with boys playing cricket, this was also where the Liklik Kricket Competition was started in PNG. It may be for these reasons more than half of the PNG national cricket team is from Hanuabada village.
ICC Membership
Papua New Guinea became an associate member of the ICC in 1973,[15] shortly before the country gained independence in 1975.[7] The West Indies cricket team visited the country that year, beating the national side by four wickets.[16] The team for that match contained six indigenous players, and from this point on, indigenous players began to dominate the national team.[7]
They played in the first ICC Trophy in 1979, though they failed to progress beyond the first round.[17] They won the gold medal at the first South Pacific Games cricket tournament later in the year and have won the gold medal every time since.[7][10] After a tour of Australia in 1981,[18] Papua New Guinea had their best international performance in the 1982 ICC Trophy where they finished third after beating Bangladesh in a play-off.[19]
Papua New Guinea again failed to progress beyond the first round at the 1986 ICC Trophy,[20] though they did record the highest total in the tournament's history in their match against Gibraltar.[21] They bounced back to win the gold medal at the South Pacific Games in New Caledonia the following year.[7] They reached the second round of the 1990 ICC Trophy in the Netherlands[22] and the gold medal when they hosted the South Pacific Games in 1991.[7]
They reached the plate final of the 1994 ICC Trophy, but did not play the match as they had already booked a flight home, not expecting to qualify.[23] This has been an occasional problem for Papua New Guinea, as flights to and from the country are infrequent. They also left the 1998 ACC Trophy in Nepal early after losing their first two games, forfeiting their match against the Maldives as otherwise they would have had to have waited more than a week for the next flight. This has also meant they have rarely played overseas outside of official tournaments, the only exceptions being a visit to Fiji in 1977, a tour of Hong Kong in the early 1980s and the aforementioned tour of Australia.[7]
Modern era
Another international outlet for Papua New Guinea team opened up in 1996 when they participated in the first ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. They reached the semi-final, where they lost to Bangladesh.[24] They played in the tournament again in 1998, but left the tournament early. They have not played in the tournament since due to the establishment of the ICC's East Asia/Pacific development region.[7] Between the two ACC Trophy tournaments, Papua New Guinea finished 13th in the 1997 ICC Trophy.[25] They failed to progress beyond the first round of the 2001 tournament in Ontario.[26] They finished third in the 2001 Pacifica Cup[27] and won the same event in 2002, beating Tonga in the final.[28]
In late January 2009, Papua New Guinea travelled to Buenos Aires to take part in Division Three of the World Cricket League where they played Argentina, the Cayman Islands, Uganda and the top two teams from Division Four in 2008. A top-two finish in this tournament would have qualified them for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier in South Africa later in 2009, from which they could have qualified for the 2011 World Cup.[33] Papua New Guinea narrowly missed qualification, ending up in third place behind Afghanistan and Uganda.
It was third time lucky for Papua New Guinea when they contested Division Three of the World Cricket League in January 2011. Winning their first 4 matches of the tournament, they had assured themselves a top-two finish, before losing the final round robin match and then the final, both against Hong Kong.
In February 2013, Papua New Guinea travelled to Auckland, New Zealand, for the EAP Championship and went through the group stages unbeaten before defeating Vanuatu in the final.[34] As a result, they participated in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE in October.
They won the first by 4 wickets, the second by 3 wickets. As on date (November-2016), they are the only country that has won its first two ODIs.[38]
Papua New Guinea's first scheduled T20I match was against Hong Kong on 13 July 2015 at the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. However the match was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain, with no toss taking place.[39] They played their first full match two days later, against Ireland, beating them by 2 wickets.[40] With their victory against Nepal on 17 July, they became the first team to qualify for the play-off section of the tournament.[41]
In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Papua New Guinea and other ICC members since 1 January 2019 have the full T20I status.[42]
Papua New Guinea crashed out early from the race of qualification for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 slated to be held in India. They finished eighth during the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland.
On the 30th of March 2021, it was announced that Carl Sandri was to be the new national coach and high performance manager for all three national squads and will oversee the high performance department and the development of talent in PNG.[45]
Papua New Guinea won the 2022–23 ICC Men's T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier, defeating the Japan national cricket team in the final. Subsequently, Papua New Guinea qualified for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup that was co-hosted by the United States and the West Indies. They were drawn in group C, along with Uganda, New Zealand, Afghanistan and West Indies. They crashed out after losing every game, ending the tournament with a net run rate of -1.268.
The women's team played Japan in a three match series at the ground in September 2006.[49]
Current squad
This lists all the players who have played for Papua New Guinea in the past 12 months or has been part of the latest ODI or T20I squad. Updated as of 5 April 2023.
↑ T20 World Cup Qualifier refers to the Regional Final of the ICC East Asia-Pacific region from the 2023 edition.
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Hong Kong at Tony Ireland Stadium, Townsville; 8 November 2014
Canada at United Ground, Windhoek; 5 April 2023
Ireland at Stormont, Belfast; 15 July 2015
New Zealand at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando; 17 June 2024
