Cricket dominates 2010 SP Sports Awards
Cricket Papua New Guinea (PNG) dominated the prestigious 2010 Sports Awards, winning five awards at the gala event at the Crowne Plaza on Saturday. The highlight of the night came through current PNG captain and Cricket PNG's High Performance Manager, Rarua Dikana, beating the five-time winner and PNG Commonwealth champion, Ryan Pini (swimming) and Nelson Stone (Athletics) to win the PNG Sportsman of the Year.
As Cricket PNG's leading all-rounder player, Dikana had an outstanding 2009 season becoming the first-ever recipient of the ICC EAP Player of the Year in a worldwide poll conducted by Cricket Europe. Dikana has captained the PNG national team since 2002 and the ICC EAP team since its inception in 2004. In 2009, Dikana captained and also coached his domestic team, United, to the final of the POMCA A Grade competition and the Belltek team in the national championships (Constantinou Shield).
Dikana also captained the elite ICC EAP team in the Australian Country Cricket Championships (ACCC) in the Barrossa Valley but his major international highlight was leading PNG to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3 in Argentina where the team missed out on qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier (CWCQ) on net run rate. Dikana had an outstanding tournament, leading the wicket-taking tally after taking five wickets against top seeds Argentina and Uganda.
Lakani Oala won his third technical Official of the Year after winning the award in 2006 and 2009. He had an outstanding season as PNG's leading umpire and is one of the only two cricket official from PNG attached to the ICC EAP umpires panel. Oala's major highlight for 2009 was his appointment by the ICC to officiate in the ICC Women's World Cup 2009 in Australia. He was also appointed as an umpire at the ACCC, and tournament referee at the ICC EAP U19 Cricket Trophy and the PNG Games Cricket Tournament.
The PNG U19 Garamuts won the Junior Team of the Year for an outstanding 2009 season. The Garamuts won the ICC EAP U19 Cricket Trophy in PNG beating Vanuatu in the final and qualified for the ICC U19 CWCQ. They were undefeated in the tournament beating Fiji, Indonesia, Japan and Vanuatu. In the qualifiers, the Garamuts finished third behind Ireland and Afghanistan and qualified for the ICC U19 CWC 2010 in New Zealand.
John Ovia (Garamuts coach) won the Coach of the Year Award for his outstanding efforts at the domestic, national and international level. Ovia captained and coached Poreporena to the POMCA 2008-09 A Grade title and coached the Brian Bell team in the national championship Constantinou Shield to the runners-up trophy in the 50-over competition and third in the overall competition.He coached the PNG U19 Garamuts to victory in the ICC EAP U19 Cricket Trophy in PNG and the ICC U19 CWCQ 2009 in Canada.
Raymond Haoda Junior beat team-mate John Boge Reva to win the Junior Male Athlete of the Year Award. Haoda Jnr was the spearhead in the Garamuts victory in the ICC EAP U19 Cricket Trophy at home and with Reva in the ICC U19 CWCQ 2009. Since making his international debut at the ICC EAP U15 Trophy in 2007, he has emerged as one of the leading fast bowlers in the ICC EAP region. His got off to a magnificent start in 2009, when at the tender age of 17, he bowled Poreporena to victory in the A grade final in 2009, taking a record seven wickets in the 50-over match. For his efforts throughout 2009, Hoada was selected as one of the 14 PNG national players in the Brian Bell Scholarship Programme, where he travelled to Christchurch, New Zealand to play for the Marist Hearwood Cricket Club in premier grade cricket.
"This was a great night for cricket in PNG," said Bill Leane, CEO of Cricket PNG. "Cricket is very proud of all our award winners and cricket's seven finalists. The recognition gained and success created is acknowledgement of cricket's rapidly growing status as PNG's most successful international sports. All our winners had significant success at the international level and they demonstrate what makes our sport great."