Cricket PNG Hits It Big at Australia Community Day!
Port Moresby – Cricket PNG proudly joined the vibrant celebrations at Australia Community Day, held today at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium in Port Moresby. The event brought together communities, leaders, and sports for a fun-filled day of culture, connection, and cricket!
A highlight of the day was the Cricket Mini Game, featuring an exciting display of talent that had anyone and everyone join for a 6 aside cricket game. The friendly match saw Cricket PNG national team captains Baramandis' Asad Vala, Lewas' Branda Tau, Garamuts' Gaba Frank and Siales' Dika Lohia, take to the field alongside special guests including, NCD Governor Hon. Powes Parkop, Australia’s High Commissioner to PNG Mr Ewen McDonald and Motu Koitabu Assembly Chairman Dadi Toka Jr.
In a crowd-pleasing moment, Governor Parkop showed off a powerful swing of the cricket bat, to the bowling skills of Mr McDonald demonstrating that cricket truly brings people together!
Australia also had a competitive team match against the national team representatives.
Cricket PNG was represented by members of all four national teams:
•The Lewas (Women’s National Team)
•The Barramundis (Men’s National Team)
•The Siales (Female U19)
•The Garamuts (Male U19)
The event was more than just a game, it was a celebration of community, culture, and collaboration. Australia Community Day offered everything from a classic Aussie snag sanga (Sausage Sizzle), live music, and a kick of the footy, to engaging performances and Australia Awards Alumni business stalls.
Cricket PNG extends gratitude to the event organizers Amazing Port Moresby, Port Moresby 50th Anniversary Committee, Australian High Commission and support from Hugo Canning Company, Goodman Fielder International, Westpac, Australian High Commission, Australia Awards, the Australian Defence Force and NRL Ltd for making this community celebration possible.
CPNG Board Chairman Michael Harrison said, “As we count down to Papua New Guinea’s 50th Independence Anniversary, we are proud to be part of events like these that bring people together through sport and culture.” "It was also good to see the players enjoy themselves with friendly cricket matchs with family and friends."
He added, this event gave the opportunity for the public to meet the national team players and participate in a friendly cricket game.
Today’s event showcased the best of PNG-Australia friendship, and the unifying power of cricket.
End…///
For further information, please contact info@cricketpng.org
About Cricket PNG
Cricket PNG (CPNG) is the National Sports Federation responsible for the governance, promotion and development of cricket in Papua New Guinea (PNG). CPNG has been an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1973 and is supported by the ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) regional office, and more recently the PNG Olympic Committee.
CPNG currently has about 70 staff in ten (10) regions across PNG with a majority involved in driving entry-level participation through the Schools Kriket Programme and the School Kriket Programme (Malolo Hard-Ball Competition). In 2024, the School Kriket Programme reached over 129,000 students across PNG. Domestically, the Isuzu T20 Smash is our pinnacle event, supported by men’s and women’s Nationals at U19 and Senior levels.
At the high-performance level internationally, our Barramundis (national men) are ranked 20th in T20 and had ODI status until early 2023, our Lewas (national women) are ranked 12th in T20 and currently have ODI status, our Garamuts (U19 boys) and Siales (U19 girls) have historically been the best performed of the ICC EAP U19 member teams.
