Dulux Provincial Championships Begin in PNG
With week 1 of the National Dulux Provincial Cricket Championships complete in PNG's Central province the teams from Fisherman's Island (Moukele) have thrown down a clear challenge to other villages to beat us if you can!
The Dulux Central Cricket Championships feature six Divisions with villages fielding a Men's and a Women's team in each Division.
There are 23 villages competing and the divisional events will be played over 6 weekends from last weekend through until 4th June. Following this the Central Regions Finals will be played to decide the overall winner of the Dulux Men's Central Challenge and the overall winner of the Dulux Women's Central Cup.
On Friday 29th and Saturday 30th April Division Six comprising GabaGaba, Gomore, Fisherman's Island and Tubusereia all travelled to Host village Gomore to compete in the Division 6 Qualifier to decide who would progress to the Finals in June.
The organisers in Gomore did a fantastic job cutting the field by hand and preparing for the event.
"It was a fantastic event", said Rarua Dikana (Hebou Barramundi's Captain and SP Sportsman of the Year 2010). "There was lots of colour, every Team had uniforms, there were lots of spectators, everyone was having FUN and there was somewhere over 1000 people involved during the weekend".
"As an ambassador for Dulux, myself, Norma Ovasuru, Jack Vare as well as Innoa Bau (Hebou Barramundi squad member) all travelled to Gomore to lend a hand and do some coaching and umpiring as well as try to help develop our Central province talent," said Dikana.
"I was so excited by what we saw, I mean we know that there is so much passion for cricket in Central Province, it is just we don?t always see the players often," continued Dikana.
Cricket PNG Regional Manager for Central Province Raymond Haoda Senior thanked all four villages for competing on behalf of Dulux and Cricket PNG. Raymond also stated that the "spirit, enthusiasm and passion showed on the weekend really shows how much great cricket is played in Central Province."
Men's matches were 15 overs per side and the Women's matches were 10 overs.
In the Men's Division Fisherman's Island went through their three games undefeated to be crowned Dulux Men's Champion. Tubusereia and GabaGaba each won a game and Gomore were winless.
In the Women's Division Fisherman's Island also went through their three games undefeated to be crowned Dulux Women's Champion. Tubusereia and GabaGaba each won a game and Gomore were winless.
There were some fantastic performances during the weekend and the undoubted individual stars were:
Uben Lea (GabaGaba) who made 118 runs in 3 games at an average of 59 including 55 not out against Tubusereia in the men's competition.
Lilly Ofae (Fisherman's Island) who took 6 wickets for 24 in 3 games which included 5/2 off 2 overs in the women's competition.
The biggest score from the weekend was in the Dulux Men's event with Martin Hekoi scoring 61 for Fishmerman's Island against Gomore.
The Best Bowling performances were hard to split but according to Ray Hoada Snr it was hard to beat Geno Aria with 5/6 off two overs including a Hat-trick for GabaGaba v Tubusereia.
This coming weekend (Friday 6th and Saturday 7th) the Dulux Central Cricket Championships moves to play Division 1 in Kepari.
Competing Men's and Women's Teams will come from Lalaura, Kapari, Viriolo, Gavuone. From this the next Qualifiers for the Finals will be known.
Future dates:
Division 2 - 13th and 14th May at Ega Launa (Ega Launa, Maopa, Pelagi, Paramana)
Division 3 - 20th and 21st May at Keapara (Keapara, Alukini & Karawa)
Division 4 - 27th and 28th May at Hula (Hula, Makerupu, Alewai and Irupara)
Division 5 on June 3rd and 4th at Babaka (Babaka, Kalo, Kamali and Kaparoko)