Papua New Guinea confident ahead of U19 tournament

PNG U19 captain Tony Pala Ura his confident his side can qualify for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup and do well at that tournament.

In an interview with the ICC website, he outlined some of the side?s preparations for the event.

How has the team prepared for the event?

The team has prepared itself by participating in an eight match national 50-over Championship with the national team to enhance the level of competition. Following this, the team had a weeklong camp with National Coach Andy Bichel (former Australian Test/ODI player) and supporting coaches including Stew McCullum from New Zealand, who is also the father of Brendon McCullum.

How popular is cricket with youth in your country?

Cricket is the second most popular sport in PNG. It is played throughout our six million strong population with junior programmes and school cricket existing in many provinces. Our U15's just completed a "clean sweep" of the ICC EAP U15 Cricket 8 Championship to retain its title.

Do you dream of playing in the U19 World Cup?

Undoubtedly, our players are participating in the qualifying event in Canada with just one goal - to follow in the footsteps of all PNG U19 teams in the last 10 years and qualify for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup.

PNG was part of ICC U19 CWC in 2008. Do you foresee the team also qualifying for the tournament in 2010 in New Zealand?

We are in Canada to play our best cricket and expect that the opportunity to play in New Zealand will be there if we play as a team. We believe that we have the potential to surprise many teams particularly in a World Cup.