He has played professional cricket for eleven years and counting, and is nowhere close to giving up.
Meet soft-spoken and determined batter, from Hula in the Central Province, and Madang Province. The Raukele Cricket Club was where he first joined a cricket team (Under 15), back in 2005. From that local club to now being part of the Kumul Petroleum PNG Barramundis participating in the World Cup is such a surreal moment for him.
He says, ‘Em fes taim blong mipla long go long Wel Kap na mipla saikap long feisim ol “big dogs”.’ [This is our debut in the World Cup and so we’re ecstatic to be facing some of cricket’s “big dogs”.]
Tony has travelled to other countries like Australia, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Namibia, England and South Africa. Out of all these places, he’d love to visit England again because he says it is just a beautiful place.
But home is always at heart. He says when he’s back home, he visits the cricket club where he initially joined cricket. It’s part of his personal growth, giving back to the community
‘Mi save go bek na halivim ol long fitness. Planti blong ol em ol liklik pikinini olsem 10 to 15 year olds.’ [I help the club with fitness training. Most of them are kids who are 10 to 15 year olds.]
If Tony isn’t at the cricket club, or on the field he’s probably fishing or gardening. He says he loves his local food and music. His playlist has loads of songs from popular group Viginuts and other local songs from his wantoks from Hula.
As the World Cup nears, he is already training hard. His cricket inspirations come from former South African cricketer Kevin Pietersen and former Ausralian cricketer, Andrew Symonds. He looks up to these players for their exceptional play in short ball, driving, fielding and hitting every ball.
He only encourages his brothers and teammates to continue to work together as a team.
‘Mipla save tok: stay together, go together, work as a team. All the Barras boys are family, so we must move together.’ [We have a saying: stay together, go together, work as a team…]