Kriket Bilong Sumatin - PNG School Cricket Report 2005

Kriket Bilong Sumation - School Cricket wining teams with their trophies © ICC

Introduction

Kriket Bilong Sumatin or school cricket was launched in April 2005 at the Institute of Business Studies in Port Moresby. The launch was well attended by participating schools from the National Capital District and Central Province, members of the media and cricket officials from Port Moresby. Also in attendance were Sir John Dawanincura, General Secretary of the PNG Sports Federation, Peter Chalapan from the PNG Sports Commission, Steven Lapan Assistant Secretary from the Department of Education and the competition’s very generous sponsors - Institute of Business Studies and Theodist Ltd.

Cricket has not been played by schools at any level for more than 30 years in PNG and its introduction in 2005 by the PNGCB, brought new excitement and interest amongst school kids. It is a well known fact that some school boys who previously had not been attending classes due to their lack of interests in schooling changed after the introduction of the school cricket last year. They started turning up to classes, and in doing so, they improved on their attitudes toward schools in general.

History

Cricket was introduced by missionaries from London Missionary Society (LMS) in the 1870’s. It was played mainly by the expatriate communities during those times and was taught to locals where ever the missionaries were posted to preach the gospel. It became a favorite past-time for the locals particularly along the Papuancoast. Sadly, cricket is now played only by people from two provinces in a country of twenty (20) provinces, and the two cricket playing provinces are NCD and Central. Although it is played in other parts of the country, it is the people of these two provinces that make up the entire playing population through immigration and work transfers. Something had to be done to break this status quo, the strategy therefore was to take action where it would be most effective, hence the introduction of Kriket Bilong Sumatin or school cricket.

Aims and objectives

The Papua New Guinea Cricket Board’s (PNGCB) aims and objectives for launching the Kriket Bilong Sumatin or school cricket are as follows:

1. Introduce cricket as an alternative sport in schools
2. Introduce cricket to children from other parts of PNG
3. Sustainable development for the sport
4. Compliment existing junior cricket initiatives, and
5. Use school cricket as an avenue to identify new talents

One of the main objectives of the Competition was to encourage children from other provinces to take up the sport. Live television coverage of international cricket had made a significant impact in the country. Streets and suburbs around Port Moresby, Lae and even Goroka, were littered with kids and adults from all over PNG playing cricket using tennis balls, empty garbage bins as makeshift stumps , coconut leaf stems as bats . This we thought would be an ideal area to launch our strategy. That, and the interaction in the way students mixed around in schools, would be prime target areas to aim for attracting and drawing children to cricket and it worked.

It was an absolute joy to witness boys and girls from many provinces from the Highlands, Momase and Islands regions playing alongside kids from the Southern region, as the competition unfolded.

Schools cricket founded

There had been a lot of talk and dream about the introduction of school cricket by many people including successive cricket Boards, Port Moresby and PNG, however, nothing had eventuated until January 2005, when new Treasurer and Board member Mr. Mick Nades got the ball rolling. Then, Deputy Chairman was tasked to plan the competition with the assistance of the PNG cricket office. This was achieved in April 2005 when school cricket was launched at the Institute of Business Studies in Port Moresby.

Sponsorship and funding

The PNGCB and Kriket Bilong Sumatin are indebted to the following companies for their very generous sponsorship and support.

1. Institute of Business Studies K20,000.00
2. Friends of cricket K20,000.00
3. Theodist Ltd K 5,000.00
4. Hourani Diesel K 5,000.00

With their generosity school cricket was finally launched in Port Moresby

Biggest cricket competition

School cricket became an instant hit in Port Moresby as kids flocked to support their schools and families turning up to support their children. Even non – students tried to ‘make‘ their way into playing for some of the school teams. With twenty two (22) schools and fifty six teams (56) including six (6) Girls teams Kriket Bilong Sumatin officially became the BIGGEST cricket competition in PNG and the South Pacific. Most matches were played on Saturday’s and only two on Sunday’s.

Team Gradings

Teams for the competition were graded in the following age divisions.

- Under/13 Boys 12 Teams
- Under/15 Boys 16 Teams
- Under/17 Boys 12 Teams
- Under/19 Boys 10 Teams
- Girls Open 6 Team

Teacher and Parental support

At the beginning of the competition, teacher and parental support was not all that good until the latter part of the season when interest grew bigger. Some headmasters even led school cheer squads during the finals series. Parents and teachers also lend their support by purchasing food and drinks for the players as the competition mood got more competitive towards the end.

Coaching and mentoring

Past and present International cricketers were attached to selected schools in NCD and Central where they conducted coaching clinics and drills. This proved to be a great public relations tool for the PNG cricket team as schools and communities heaped praise on the players and the team.

Coaching / Umpiring course

In May 2005, a coaching and umpiring course was hosted by the PNGCB for teachers and parents utilizing its internationally trained and accredited coaches and umpires. Six women were amongst sixteen teachers who sat for the course.

Duration of competition

The competition ran from May 2005 culminating with the finals in September 2005.

The following Shields and trophies were presented for the winners of each division. Best players from each grand final teams received awards donated by City Pharmacy and Brian Bell.

The Winners were:

Under/13 Boys Minor Premiers - Hagara Primary School
Under/15 Boys Minor Premiers - St.Michaels Primary School
Under/17 Boys Minor Premiers - Hagara Primary School
Under/19 Boys Minor premiers - Badihagwa High School
Girls Open Minor Premiers - Gordon Secondary School
Under/13 Boys Premiers - Hagara Primary School
Under/15 Boys Premiers - St. Michaels Primary School
Under/17 Boys Premiers - Hagara Primary School
Under/19 Boys Premiers - Gordon Secondary School
Under/13 Boys Runner-up - St Michael Primary School
Under/15 Boys Runner-up - Gabagaba Primary School
Under/17 Boys Runner-up - Gordon Secondary School
Under/19 Boys Runner-up - Badihagwa High School
Girls Open Runner-up - Jubilee Secondary School

Achievements and successes

The schools cricket competition started on a high and ended on an even higher note. The success of this is owed to the founders but more importantly to the four sponsors. Not only did it achieve all of it’s objectives but it also achieved world wide recognition .

Schools cricket also achieved the following:

• Became the biggest organized cricket competition in PNG,
• Attracted the largest cricket sponsorship,
• Won two international cricket awards for the best junior cricket development initiative,
• The Regional Award in the East Asia Pacific Region
• The International Cricket Council (ICC) Global Award
• Several previously unknown school boys became regular A Grade players in Pom, and
• A grade ten school girl was selected in the PNG Women’s Training squad.

The Future

The PNGCB has plans to expand the concept to other centers as the competition attracted a great deal of support from the rest of the country with interests expressed from many idle and non cricket playing areas .Enquiries were received from Manus, Kavieng, Central, Enga, Lae, Alotau, and Madang of possible inclusion or start of competitions in those regions. The Board must build on this imitative and seize the opportunity to take the game to these areas.

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the assistance and great support given by our good sponsors who made it all very possible and easy. Without your support, we would not have enjoyed all this success, there we would like to offer our sincere thank you to the following sponsors,

• The Institute of Business Studies
• The Friends of cricket
• Theodist Ltd and
• Hourani Diesel.

Also, to the following companies and organizations,

• City Pharmacy
• Brian Bell and Company
• Institute of Business Studies staff
• Gordon Secondary School
• Coronation Primary School
• Gabagaba Village Cricket Association
• Members of the PNG senior cricket team
• All Umpires, scorers, volunteers
• International Cricket Council - East Asia Pacific regional office, Melbourne, Australia
• Townsville Cricket Assocation
• All participating schools
• Parents and teachers
• PNG Sports commission
• PNG Sports Federation
• Charles R Amini.
• Raj Ralavu Rai & Iamo Rency Manega PNG Cricket Office.