Papua New Guinea’s national sport is rugby; every region is all things rugby – tackle, touch, and union. But this story is not about rugby; it is about cricket – another legacy sport passed on from the colonial period, but only gaining much momentum in recent years as PNG becomes a recognized force to be reckoned with on the international cricket stage. Cricket PNG continues to develop the sport, strategizing crucial pathways to make cricket a national sport; a commitment assured by the competent leadership of CPNG’s CEO Richard Done and his excellent high performance and senior managers, and regional development managers. For me, I recall, as a kid, watching cricket on TV and sometimes playing the sport in the front or back yard of the various homes I grew up in. I can certainly tell you that growing up in the highlands, typical sporting life revolved around rugby, soccer, basketball and volleyball, so my interest in cricket slowly dwindled as I grew up, but now, I am intrigued by the sport again. So meeting up with Cricket PNG’s Talent Identification Manager, Rodney Maha this week at Port Moresby’s Amini Park, dubbed the home of cricket in PNG, I was curious as to why there was so much interest in cricket again in the country, and why places you would never think cricket would be played, actually have development programs in place. Mr Maha does acknowledge that they indeed have their work cut out to turn cricket into the national sport. He also agrees that the fact that you see places such as Jiwaka and Southern Highlands provinces amongst those with cricket development programs, confirms growing interest in the sport. “It is very important. For us to become a national sport, we must include, as much as possible, all the regions outside (NCD and Central),” Mr Maha said at the Amini Park grandstand area, whilst walking past him is the Assadollah Vala, captain of the Kumul Petroleum PNG Barramundis, as the girls on contract to the PNG Lewas are conducting drills behind us on the pitch.” Mr Maha continues: “Growing up, I worked in Lae as a development officer, and I saw how much talent in Lae when I was there, and I saw that cricket was not advertised properly, and you know what rugby league is like, and soccer, it’s everywhere, so whenever someone holds a rugby or soccer ball, everyone gets excited, and that’s what we want to bring into cricket – the excitement.” “And that’s why I’m very excited that we have (development) officers in Jiwaka, Mendi, and those kinds of areas.” “It is my dream that someone from these areas represent the country.” “I strive and work very hard for that, because I know that my people here in Central and NCD, uh, we already we can play (but) if you see someone selected from the outside, then it will really catch your attention.” “I’m very excited, and every now and then I go to these guys (regional development managers) from outside and have long chats on how we can best develop and bring the kids here and align them with our programs for leading up to high performance.” “This is very important as cricket is growing; even China, and Korea are playing – even internally you guys may not have known there was a development officer in Jiwaka, so it’s the same thing, cricket is spreading globally, and for that sake, we must also spread it here (domestically).” “For it to be a national sport, we have to include everyone else, and it is my dream that one day if I see someone from those kinds of areas playing, representing Barramundis or Lewas, then I’ll probably sit back and retire."