Sports in COVIDFREE nations
next four years to support the sector to recover from the impact of COVID19. The funding has been allocated as follows:
* $■2.6 million in shortterm support to help get through the initial impact of COVID19.
* $104 million to help organisations rebuild in the medium term and make changes in order to operate successfully in the postpandemic environment.
* $7■ million for innovative approaches to sustainably delivering play, active recreation and sport into the future.
Is every sport allowed in New Zealand now?
Yes, all sports and active recreation activities that were previously enjoyed in New Zealand can now be undertaken in Alert Level 1.
When is cricket likely to start in the country? Can all players train and hit the nets now?
Cricket will start in our summer season and players, should they wish to get ahead of the game, can start hitting the nets now.
The state of emergency in Papua New Guinea was lifted a few weeks ago, even though the Pacic nation reported yet another case of COVID19 recently, taking its total tally to nine.
However, with life crawling back to normal, the sporting fraternity is looking condent. While so far most of the training activities were restricted to indoors, the Papua New Guinea cricket team took a step forward, organising a proper training camp for players ahead of its long domestic season, which is scheduled to get underway in July.
Last year, the PNG Barramundis — as the senior men’s cricket team is known — qualied for the 2020 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia later this year. But with the International Cricket Council yet to take a call on the future of the tournament, there is no clarity on whether the Barramundis will be living their dreams, this year!
But that hasn’t stopped them from getting into the groove. Though head coach Joe Dawes admits that it would be a little hard as they are yet to hear from the ICC on whether there will be enough international games this year, he is condent that the boys will get back in shape over the next few weeks.
“We are waiting for the ICC, hopefully we will get to play some international cricket. We would set our goals for domestic cricket and get ready for what’s going to be a very busy year (in 2021),” Dawes told Sportstar.
The men’s and women’s teams have spent the past few months keeping t in isolation and sharing their workout videos with the coaches and support sta. But as they gear up for fulledged camps, Dawes is excited. “The players have been training in small groups for vesix weeks and now they start as full squads and that’s something we are excited about,” Dawes — who has previously worked with the Indian team as its bowling coach — said.
After becoming an associate member in 1979, Cricket PNG achieved its second biggest milestone on the cricketing world when it was granted One Day International (ODI) status in March 2014, after the Barramundis nishing fourth in the ICC 50over World Cup Qualiers in New Zealand. And since then, the success story has been quite phenomenal.
But when the camp gets underway, the PNG board wants to maintain all the safety protocols. “We will have to function in a new way with COVID19 in the background. We will have temperature checks daily, sanitising and maintaining social distancing as much as we can. Our priority is going to be the safety of our players and sta,” Dawes said.
The players and the stakeholders were looking forward to the T20 World Cup this year, but in case the tournament is postponed, it would certainly be a major blow for the side. “We are waiting for a decision by the ICC. We all know that it will be postponed. But whether it will be by six months or 12 months — that’s something we have to see. It will be a disappointment no doubt, but we will take this opportunity to ensure that we are better prepared for the World Cup when it comes along,” the seasoned coach stated.
Even Cricket PNG Chief Executive Ocer and former Australia Test cricketer, Greg Campbell, is hopeful that things will slowly fall in place. “After we qualied for the T20 World Cup in October last year, some of the players went on to play club cricket in Australia, while some stayed back home. The coach put them on a strength and conditioning camp and then COVID19 hit us. We haven’t had a lot of cricket,” Campbell said.
The team was scheduled to travel to Darwin to play a few T20 games against the Northern Territory team and the Hobart Hurricanes. “Now they have cancelled that after what happened in Cricket Australia recently,” Campbell, who is the uncle of Australian cricket legend, Ricky Ponting, said.
Over the last couple of years, the associate nation has taken a giant leap and as the cricketing world eyes some sort of normalcy, even PNG hopes to hang in there and tell its own story — of chasing dreams and eyeing more glory!