Cricket PNG Tok Tok
In partnership with PacificAus Sports program, Cricket PNG is on track to send five (5) Kumul Petroleum Lewas PNG Women’s Cricket Team representatives to train in Perth and Canberra-Australia’s capital city during the month of November through till December 2022.
Sibona Jimmy and Hollan Doriga were the first two selected, and have been training with the Western Australian squad at the WACA ground in Perth and playing cricket for the South Perth Cricket Club on the weekends. The level of training has included access to the WA coaching staff including head coach and former England international Becky Grundy and fast bowling coach and former Ireland head coach Aaron Hamilton. Both Lewas have attended training sessions alongside the Perth Scorchers, where Sibona and Hollan met some of their cricketing idols.
Coach Kath Hempenstall in an online interview, “So far it’s been a fantastic experience for them being able to train with professional Australian players on first class facilities. The WACA coaching staff have been very impressed with their skill set and athleticism, with the girls able to match it with the Western Australian players. In their first game for South Perth on the weekend, Sibona top scored with 52 runs and took 1/20. Hollan opened the bowling and made 9 runs. The game was live streamed and had a few more viewers than usual, with many of their teammates and friends from PNG tuning into the game. As part of the training program, both Sibona and Hollan will help coach the u14 and u17 girls teams at South Perth Cricket Club on Wednesday evenings during their time in Western Australia. On the past weekend, they attended a WBBL game at Lilac Hill, watching the Perth Scorchers defeat the Sydney Sixers, and were in awe of Beth Mooney’s match winning knock of 99 not out.
Sibona Jimmy and Hollan Doriga will be in Perth for 6 weeks, flying home on the 12th of December.
Also joining the PacificAus Sports program, are Isabel Toua, Henao Thomas & Vicky Ara’a who boarded the Brisbane flight to connect to Canberra yesterday, Tuesday 15th of November,2022.