Twenty20 Cricket and Settled in at home

After a busy few weeks I have had the opportunity to take some time off and relax as well as make home feel like home.

The last few months have been an extremely busy time with work and my own cricket, but coming back from the Centre of Excellence over a week ago has given me the opportunity to have a few days off and organise a few things with the house.

Chris has been away a fair bit playing for the Victorian Bushrangers so we seem to pass each other literally in the airport lounges, so to get some time to tidy up and unpack a few box's has been fantastic.

As well as my time off from work I also experienced twenty20 cricket Victorian style when I was picked in the 1st grade Prahran side to take on the Campbwell Magpies at their home ground. The game was a 5.15pm start and by half way through the game there was at least 500 spectators watching some exciting cricket and some big hitting. The Magpies had a guest star player as part of their promotion to get a strong crowd with Saint Kilda AFL 113 game player in Brendon Goddard, he took two wickets and scored 10 runs in their win over us last Wednesday night.

Our second game of the Primary Edge Twenty20 is this Wednesday at home to Saint Kilda.

I have attached some pictures that I have taken of the house, hope you like and of course any family and friends are more than welcome anytime.

PNG attend Centre of Excellence

Papua New Guinea arrived safely on Sunday morning and were greeted by at least twenty 'wontoks' which is a word they use for family/friends/fellow villagers who now reside in Australia.

The week was extremely encouraging as the team beat a strong invitation side in both games on Tuesday and Thursday. The side spent the week at the Centre of Excellence as part of their preparation for the World Cricket League Division 3 in January 2009. The squad of 18 players and coach had a similar schedule to the first week when the East Asia-Pacific squad attended.

The PNG boys are a terrific bunch of guys who have a massive love and passion for the game. The work ethic and the way they throw themselves around the field is amazing.

On Friday Ian Healey came along for a few hours to interview a few of the players and do a small story on PNG cricket for the Cricket Show which is aired during the lunch interval of Australia's test match's at home.

The week also showed how much they are improving as a cricketing country in their development, their structures are in place now and they will have their best crack at a World Cup berth.

Rarua who is the captain of the national side was selected to represent a Indigenous X1 v a ACA X1 which had several ex Australian players, he smashed 65 including a few big six's. This is not only great for him but also great for the continued awareness of the ICCs development program.

I flew home on Friday night when the rest of the boys went to the All Star twenty20 game at the GABBA. This gave me sometime to get a few hours sleep before travelling down to Geelong for a second grade match.

Centre Of Excellence

Well the first of the two camps my region runs at the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence has come to an end in style with a 100 run win over Australian Sports gateway X1 at Allan Border field on Friday.

The week has been excellent apart from a day of rain on the Wednesday where we had to go indoors all day at the GABBA. But this gave the players an opportunity to see a world class stadium and a change of scenery.

The week for the players consists of general training, fitness testing, two games of which we won 1 and lost one, specialist fielding coaching from Mike Young who is the former Australian Baseball coach and now Australian Cricket Team fielding coach.

For some of the players it is their first time to Australia and for some even the first time they have played on turf pitches. The ages range from a young boy from Indonesia who is 16 all the way to a 28 year old Fijian player. This is a important program in our high performance calander and a chance for us to select the better players to then represent the region at the Australian Country Cricket Championships which is in January 2009.

The highlight for me during the week long camp was how well the guys played in Fridays game and winning a rare game for the region. The boys played against a academy side that features world cup players from Bermuda, scottish under 19s players and some 1st Grade cricketers from Brisbane. Just the way the players delivered what we had discussed after our dissapointing and non competitive game on Tuesday against the same side.

Today I have had the chance for a bit of time to relax and time to myself, the week for me is very exhausting with a lot of coaching during the day with its challenges of languages and general cricket culture. In the evenings Im organising their allowances or driving them back down for dinner at the Centre of Excellence.

Now it is time to welcome the PNG cricket team who are preparing for the world Cricket League Division 3 on their way to a hopeful berth in the next world cup in 2011.

The squad is coached by Martin Gleeson who was formerly in my current position and now works at Cricket Australia, this is great for me as it allows me to take a back seat role and also work with someone I have worked with for sometime over a number of years in different roles.

PNG arrive into Brisbane and then Depart next Saturday, I will also depart for melbourne on Saturday and step straight onto the cricket field and play for Prahran.

Perth to Darwin to Melbourne to Brisbane

Well one thing is for sure is that I have now got very used to flying, packing, sleeping at weird times and changing the time on my phone.

Once again I had a lot of travel over a short space of time, 4 long flights over 5 days which took me from the furthest western part, then northern and now eastern part of Australia.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to go home for a few days and visit family as well as have a partnership meeting with the WACA. Perth will always be home whether or not I have family there, it is so familiar and just feels like home and somewhere I feel I belong.

I spent 3 full days and saw the whole family including a night at my Brothers staying in Davis's bed.... has been a few years since I was in a bunk bed.

After Perth it was a 4 hour flight to Darwin to meet with the guys from NT cricket as part of their partnership with the ICC. The top end has had a massive increased interest in cricket mainly because Australia has now scheduled matches there every year for the last 4 or so years. It is a great place to play during the southern winter as it is warm and the grounds are outstanding.

Then a 1am flight to Melbourne to finally see my new place I'm living in with a mate from Perth in Chris Rogers. Chris moved over to Vic for cricket and we have a great little joint in Prahran just near commercial road.

So after a day of running around to Ikea and cleaning the place up it was time to head out for dinner with Chris and Joanna to celebrate the new place. Was also a chance for Chris and I to finally have a few drinks together which we have not really done in Melbourne so far.

Saturday morning..... 7am OUCH alarm goes and I'm now required to get dressed and ready for my flight to Brisbane to attend the Centre of Excellence for the next two weeks. Chris was also heading to the airport as he had a one day game against NSW, we decided to share a cab but when the cab arrived and we both had two big cricket bags we soon realised this was not going to happen. Not even a paper, scissors rocks and I allowed Chris the first cab.

So all settled in now and all the players from my region have arrived safely in what has been a full on few days with several visits to the airport to collect the players who started arriving Saturday morning.

The hotel is fairly basic but great for the players as it is only a short stroll to the complex at Allan Border field where the academy is based. The academy used to be based in Adelaide for its first ten years but due to the excellent weather conditions it has now relocated and is one of the best facilities in the world.

The players from my region are really excited and are amazed they are using the same equipment and grounds that the Australian players will be using in about 3 weeks time when they get home from India and prepare for the Australian summer.

Tomorrow we have our first game against a overseas academy side mainly consisting of English minor and second X1 county players. The team we have selected for tomorrow is not our strongest as I really want some of our new players to get straight into things and it also allows them a chance to prove how much they deserve their selection.

The squad consists of 14 players from Fiji, japan, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa. No PNG players this week as they are attending next week for their preparation for World cricket league next year.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from today, they are of the squad this morning before leaving the hotel and then some of the players doing the yo yo test and also in the nets.

Been awhile

Apologies to Family and Friends that read my blog, I have totally neglected writing on it as have been so busy with work, cricket and social life.

So where to begin??? well after New Zealand My Brother came to visit, I went to the AFL Grand Final, started the season with Prahran CC, visited Port Moresby and worked with the PNG team, flew to Cairns and am currently writing this from the Qantas club at Brisbane airport on my way back to Melbourne.

Brother in Town - I was lucky enough to have my Brother pass Melbourne for 24 hours on his way to Sydney for a nerdy computer conference... haha only jokes Miles. Was great to see him and have a family member in my new home town.

We did the usual things like tour the city, Bridge Rd (More on that soon), St Kilda, my office, a gay bar and the 'G' as Miles now calls it. Oh wooooooops I mentioned the gay bar, well basically been new myself and showing my brother around we visited a local gay bar, not intended nor did I know.

We had gone for a few afternoon beers when I or we decided to visit a bar across the road from where we were, Miles had mentioned as we finished the last few sips that the decor was quote 'Very interesting and a little weird' I then also noticed a locked room and many 'couples' of the same sex.

It did not take us long to get out of there and off home I can assure you.

Bridge road - well I have known about this as one of the best stretches of shopping in Australia and we went along to have a look. Miles then decided to check some suits out and to my surprise there was suits for $30.00 yes 30 bucks Aussie... Unbelievable so I bought myself one and it is still in one piece.

We also had a chance to look at the MCG just days before it would be packed of 100,000 screaming footy fans.

AFL Grand Final - What a game and an experience, nothing beats been at a AFL Grand Final and I'm lucky this has been my second. Unfortunately this time the Coasters didn't make it but all in all it was great to see a competitive game

Prahran CC - After much deliberating I have decided to pull the boots on again and play for a premier league side Prahran Cricket Club, rich in tradition and famous for the players it has produced.

I have taken on the role as captain and assistant coach, this is great as I miss not having a game and to be involved in a club like Prahran is fantastic. How did I land here you ask? well a good friend called David Hussey plays here, another mate from Perth Mark Selth did play for them, my great great grandfather built and lived only 300 meters from the ground and I met the coach whilst doing my level 3 coaching course a few years back.

Amazing to see that with all the Burke's that have lived in the area I'm the only one to ever play for the club. If you get bored and want to check how we are going then click onto the link

Port Moresby - Well it was once again time to visit our best performed Associate country in PNG as they prepare for their assault at Division 3 of the Pepsi World Cricket League. For those unsure of the cricket structure this is where all the top countries below full test nations compete to earn the rite to play in the 2011 World Cup.

PNG are one of the favourites to win Division 3 which will mean they are only another step away from qualifying for the 2011 World Cup, if you are interested in finding a little more about this and view pictures take a look at this site

Unfortunately Fiji, who are the regions second ranked country had a tough divison 4 finishing second last and will now be starting in division 5 next time.

The week in PNG was again tough, definitely not a tourist city and the country is a very good wake up call to how we live in Australia and how blessed we are to even just have a house and food.

I stayed from Sunday till Friday and spent 4 full days with the national squad and worked them extremely hard in hot, humid and tough conditions. The side looks good and are playing good cricket, they only lack self discipline and some cricket education that we as Australia cricketers take for granted playing against good teams and quality facilities. Division 3 is played in Argentina in mid January 2009.

During my time I heard the unfortunate story that Gayan (AYAD volunteer from Melbourne) had been held at gun point as some locals tried to car jack him, the poor young man is still shaken which is not surprising. To add to this he also had a severe virus which kept him sick in bed for a few days, this is only his third week in the country but he still seems up beat.

Whilst in PNG I only ever really see the cricket ground (Amini Park) and the hotel (Gateway) as it is a little dangerous to walk by yourself. I did enjoy a few meals away from the hotel with the General manager of PNG Cricket as well as a look at a local night club called 'Shooters' which surprisingly was not too bad and the locals seemed friendly enough.

I also got to meet some of the PNG rugby league players as they stayed in the hotel in preparation for the league World Cup in Australia which kicks of here in Brisbane in about a weeks time.

On my way home I had a stop over in Cairns for a few hours which was nice as have never been there before. Did not get much of a chance to look around but seems like a great place and similar to one of my favourite destinations in Broome. I will certainly be stopping over next time.

Brisbane - Well a quick flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and I land in at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence, this is where the majority of talented cricketers get the chance to have the best facilities and coaches in the world in their quest to one day wear the baggy green or at least their state colours.

I have been to a few academy's including when the Australia one was in Adelaide but this is by far the most impressive and just oozes talented coaches and a honour role of past scholarship holders that would make the West indies of old shake in their boots.

For those that don't know it was started by Rod Marsh (Aussie Wicketkeeper) and has had the likes of Ponting, Lee, Warne, McGrath, Martyn and some new faces to the Aussie team in both Hussey's, Casson, Marsh and Haddin.

So the reason I'm here is we (ICC) invest just under $100,000 AUS to take our best 30players from their countries over two weeks to attend the camp under my guidance and using the CoE coaches to assist in the development of these inspiring young international cricketers... Did I say young? well some are a few years older than me, so now I'm sounding like a cricket coach.

I also met with QLD cricket as they assist PNG as well as a gentleman by the name of Brad Murphy who runs his own cricket academy for overseas visitors.

So has been a busy day and as I sit here waiting to be called to board I also know I have very limited sleep tonight as have a four day conference starting on Saturday for all our ten developing member countries. Exciting because we get to see them all and talk about the great, the hard and the amazing work they and we all do, but stressful as so many things to still plan and deliver.

Again thanks for checking in and I hope that I add something that makes my entries interesting.

Pictures - PNG team at Ela Beach in Port Moresby for some fitness

New Zealand and Home

A three day visit to New Zealand and a weekend home was ver enjoyable leading into a very busy week.

My boss, Matt and I headed off to Christchurch and Wellington for some meetings with Canterbury Cricket, Wellington Cricket as well as a umpires meeting and a meeting with New Zealand Cricket.

This was an excellent chance for me to meet some more of our full test members that provide support to our region as well as see a little bit of New Zealand.

After my three day visit to New Zealand it was off to Perth for two nights to catch up with friends and family. Though it was a long flight from Wellington via Sydney it was worth it to suprise my Mum and nephew/neices.

Friday night my Father was at the airport to collect me and Saturday was spent with my Mum and Brother and of course the kids.

Saturday night was spent with friends and a night out into Leederville, was a good night but struggled Sunday. I then flew back to Melbourne late Sunday night in preparation for a coaching seminar I had arranged for my best coaches in the region.

The seminar has been planned for some months now and brings the leading coaches from the region to melbourne for a week of training. The idea is to train these ten coaches up to then go back and present level 1 coaching accreditation in their member countries.

It was a great week, I could of not asked for it to run any better. The coaches were very active in their participation and it was an overall a great success, the challenge now is to see these coaches go and use the skills they have learnt.

I have also settled well into my new place in Newport and also had the opportunity a few weeks ago to play poker with Shane Warne (Picture attached)as well as a picture from the Test ground Basin Reserve in Wellington, down at the ocean in Wellington and the snow on the mountains landing in Christchurch.

When looking at the pictures you should click on it to give the justice.

My return home to see Eagles loose at the 'G'

Well as my heading on the post says, I witnessed the Eagles at their worst went they went down to the Melbourne Demons by twenty odd points at the MCG yesterday.

But in saying this I have really enjoyed my almost week back in Melbourne, a chance for me to go car looking, house hunting and a chance to see friends and a little bit more of what Melbourne has to offer.

I have been a 'Melbournian' for 10 weeks but have only actually been in town for 5 weeks of that time, so this weekend was a quiet weekend to see more of the city and car yards.

My trip through Asia was an experience and also very tiring, I understand how people imagine my job to be great but reality is it can also be very tiring and not a great deal of time to yourself.

As stated in my last blog I visited Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea) and the two major cities of Indonesia (Bali & Jakarta). The opportunity to visit these ICC member countries was a great experience and all three countries are very different in their stages of development.

All three countries are heavily populated and are all working hard with their development of the game.

Seoul was an amazing city and a country with a fair amount of cultural ethics that Daniel (Cricket Victoria) and myself had a little brief before our first meal. It is important in my role to acknowledge the cultures and to try and fit in with the local custom as best I can, this builds a stronger relationship.

For example in Korea it is rude to pour your own drink, haha something I think we should have in Australia. When pouring someones drink you must cross your no pouring arm across your body, also important to hold your glass with two hands when accepting a drink.

The Korean people were very accomodating and gratefully appreciative for our visit. We ran a level course, introduction course and held a training session with the national squad. The visit was a success as the Korean Cricket Association has not had a level 1 course before in the country, now they have twenty accredited coaches in cricket.

Our three evenings were spent with members of the KCA and this included the local foods (Korean BBQ), Korean food, well it is a little different to other Asian foods and probably similar to what we are used to here in Australia. BBQ meats and rice, very tasty and not too hot for our delicate Western mouths.

I departed for Denpasar (Bali) on a 8pm flight on Korean air, my arrival was 3.20am in Bali, just hours before holding a level 1 course on the Monday morning. I was extremely exhausted during the day but it is always a lifting experience when you see how appreciative the people are on our visits.

Indonesia also meant a reunion with my good mate and ex work mate from the WACA, Simon Barras. This was a help as Simon did majority of the presenting on day 1 of the coaching course, he was able to have a few more hours sleep as he came direct from Perth.

It was great to be back in Indonesia, this is the first time back since been the countries national cricket coach. The people are still there that are involved in the game, but there is also some very exciting programs involving which will take Indonesian cricket to the next level.

Cricket Indonesia have developed a more structured and coordinated u/15s cricket program, Cricket will also now be recognised officially by the Government as they will have cricket played at a junior level in 16 different provinces throughout the country.

After the level 1 course and a day with the development staff it was then onto Jakarta. Jakarta is a very busy city and can also be very unpredictable at times, the traffic is frustrating as you can sometimes be in a car for over two hours when only travelling 70 - 80 kms.

When checking into the hotel in Jakarta (Manhattan), I was disgusted with how the room smelt. I complained and was lucky enough to be upgraded to a bigger and better room on the executive floor over looking the city lights, big bath and massive bed. This was a relief after spending time in some very small rooms in Korea, Japan and also Bali.

The course was a great success in both Bali and Jakarta, they now have another 50 coaches of level 1 accreditation.

It is great to be back in Melbourne, a place that certainly feels like home. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures attached from Indonesia and Korea.

Tokyo

Well after an interesting flight here to Tokyo via Sydney, I arrived with the news that my luggage was still in Sydney. Luckily Qantas delivered it at 9.30am the following day.

The trip to Tokyo has been great with some really positive things happening here for cricket.

I was able to visit one of the amazing views in the world when I travelled out to Fuji for the national women's squad training on Sunday. I was treated with a clear early morning which is rare as usually this time of the year you can not even see Mt Fuji, but finally my luck turned and I was treated to an amazing sight.

After a couple of nights in a very traditional Japanese hotel in Fuji where I got to shower in an open area with naked Japanese men and sleep on the floor it is nice to be back to a western feel with a return to Tokyo.

Majority of the travel has been via the railways and I even managed to catch the train my self to the Japan Cricket Office, for anyone that has been to Tokyo they will appreciate no one speaks English and the signs are very hard to read unless you can read Japanese.

Daniel and I also got the chance to show cricket for the first time to some Baseball kids in Yaizu where two girls from Hobart are teaching English and keen to show cricket to these young boys. The boys had natural talent in batting and throwing, while we worked with their bowling as throwing was an issue.

Some pictures attached will show how great they looked in their very white baseball outfits.

Tomorrow is another airport visit when we fly off to Seoul, during this visit we will mainly run coach education courses. South Korea is an affiliate member country and have a very small cricket program, but in saying that they seem very motivated and positive about our visit.

Till next time, enjoy the pictures :-)

Eight Flights in 18 Days

After only three full days back in Australia after the ICC conference in Dubai I’m again fighting my way through airports to Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

Dubai was a great personal and professional experience, the United Arab Emirates is an incredible place and the culture is some what interesting. Though Dubai is extremely hot this time of the year it was so interesting to experience extreme heat in such a dry hot humid country away from the cold and wet weather in Melbourne.

I’m writing this entry on my Qantas flight to Tokyo, one of many flights over the coming two and a bit weeks. The main purpose of this trip is to explain to our member countries the new funding that has been available to cricket globally through the selling of the main ICC sanctioned events to ESPN broadcasting.

The global development program has around $300 million US over the next 4 years, which makes cricket the second biggest developing sport globally behind FIFA (Soccer). With this come extra responsibilities for member countries and an opportunity for ICC staff to educate the developing countries on how best to use the forecasted money and reporting procedures.

During the trip I will also be visiting South Korea, Bali and Jakarta before returning to Sydney then onto Melbourne on August 12th.

East Asia – Pacific has been well supported over the last few years by our full member countries (Australia and New Zealand) which include the states and provinces. Due to this relationship majority of the Australian states and New Zealand Provinces have a partnership with one of our ten Member countries.

The partnerships are funded by the ICC and gives state/provinces staff the opportunity to experience developing country cricket nations and provide assistance in coach education, high performance programs and competition management.

During this trip I have a travelling partner in Daniel Trevillian from Cricket Victoria who will assist in presenting some coach education courses and high performance program with the Japan National Women’s team. It certainly beats travelling by yourself and to have another voice is always good for the coaches and players.

In Indonesia I will be joined by a former WACA employee and good mate Simon Barras as we spend a week in Jakarta and Bali conducting coach education courses.

The ICC Champions Trophy has been an interesting topic for many people in and out of cricket with the safety concerns on Pakistan where the tournament is due to be held in September.

I know the ICC head office has been working very hard with all countries to establish an outcome on wether the event will go ahead in Pakistan or not. A media release yesterday announced that Pakistan will still host the Champions Trophy. Those unaware of the Champions Trophy, it is a one day tournament involving only full member countries, a bit like a mini world cup.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks even though I don’t have a day off during this time. It is a great opportunity to assist these hard working member countries.

Stay tuned with some pictures and entries to come over the next few weeks.

CB

Arriving in Dubai

For those that have not visited Dubai.... Buy a ticket ASAP and expirence one of the most modern cities in the world. Dubai is an incredible place and everything you would imagine of a middle eastern country that is mainly made up of desert.

Upon arrival after a 15 hour flight via Singapore we were greeted by 35 degrees at 6am and the day has of course only got warmer, a max of 46 is expected today.

Once checking through immigration myself and Nick Frayne (ICC Regional Projects Officer)took a 30 minute taxi ride to Jumeriah which is a coastal area of Dubai and checked into our Hilton hotel. The hotel is incredible in itself, with its own beach and amazing pool this is certainly a great place to relax away from the day to day conference and meetings we have over the next 4 days.

Nothing is small in Dubai, it's like everyone is trying to out do each other with bigger buildings or fancier designs. Fact is 70% of the worlds cranes are in the city of Dubai and I can testify to that, everywhere you look there are cranes in this every growing city.

Our beach at the hotel is very calm and clear, though it is like hoping into a warm bath so not as refreshing as you would hope for after hours in the heat and humidity. The pool on the other hand is great and even has a swim up bar to enjoy a lemonade or two.

Today has been our own day to ourselves to look around and not be restricted by time and work commitments. We spent majority of the day looking around town and visited the Mall of the Emirates, imagine the Galleria times five and filled with the likes of Prade, D&G and many other deisgner outlets. The shops have a certain European flavour to them and have the likes of Boots and Debenhams which are very big department stores in the UK.

The people are friendly and the city has so many different cultures, in the hotel here thier would be almost someone representing every country in the globe.

Well best go and get some dinner and get ready for a busy four days ahead.

Trip back home

Last weekend was a great opportunity to head back home for a few days to catch up with friends and family, most excitingly to see the new addition to the Burke family in Quinn Nathaniel Burke who is my nephew.

The flight from Melbourne to Perth on the Thursday night got a whole lot better when one of my friends happened to be on the same flight, always makes the flight go a little quicker.

Friday night had some family time and spent the evening at Martino's in Mount Lawley, great Italian restaurant with a family atmosphere. From there it was time to venture out with the boys and hit Subiaco and Leederville before heading home at 2am.

One of the things I miss most is not seen my niece and nephew (Leia & Davis), these two just make my day and always bring reality into life with their honesty and caring nature.

Saturday was spent shopping with my brother, Davis & Leia. The night was again a visit to the Subiaco hotel where I met some of my best mates from the WACA days before heading into Leederville to see my sister at the Manor.

Sad to come home but also a very interesting few months ahead with allot going on in the world of cricket.

Tomorrow (Saturday 12th July) I head off to Dubai for the ICC development conference, this is a week long trip and a fantastic opportunity to learn more about what the ICC does and how it is all put together. Picture above is a view from the hotel we stay in Dubai, Hilton Jumeriah.

I will also get the chance to have a few days off to travel around and see more of Dubai, something I'm trying to do with all my trips.

The next month will see me visit;
* Dubai
* Sydney
* Tokyo
* Seoul
* Jakarta
* Denpasar
* Brisbane

With travel comes allot of work but certainly something I'm looking forward to.

Stay posted to see some great pictures of these trips :-)

First ICC trip - Port Moresby

Thursday June 20th I set off for my first official ICC trip, destination,Papua New Guinea one of our pacific neighbours.

The Eastern parts of Australia get allot of fog in the early hours and Thursday was no different with Brisbane airport fogged in, this meant my 8.30am flight to Brisbane from Melbourne had been delayed and even more frustrating we waited on the aircraft for almost 90 minutes.... frustrating to say the least.

This meant a mad dash for the train once arriving into Brisbane domestic, the two airports domestic and international are on the train line and is a short 3 minute journey. Once going through immigration I heard the final call for my flight to Port Moresby, all I could think about was how bad it would be missing my first ICC trip.

Luckily I made the flight and again the flight had a short delay due to the amount of traffic.

Arrival at Port Moresby was an experience in it self, the locals seem very shy. The arrival documents and immigration documents are similar to most in the world, except for one strange question.... 'Tick the box if you have any more than one item the same?' WOW!!! I ticked yes as I had numerous hats and shirts for the PNG Cricket Board.

Customs stopped me and searched my bags, then asked about cost of the caps and shirts and insisted I pay for importing the items. The discussion went for sometime and a long story short, I was able to keep the hats and shirts and carry on with out paying any money.

I was greeted at Port Moresby by Laksy (Lakani Oala) who is the Operations Manager for PNG Cricket, he was very polite and welcoming. A short 5 minute drive and we arrived at my hotel (Gateway) a nice simple hotel with a PNG flavour.

I was then taken for a look around Town as we headed for Amini Park, the headquarters for cricket. On arrival to the ground we waited for the security to unlock the barbwired steel fence.

Facilities are not great for cricket in PNG and something that had become very obvious on my arrival. The office facilities were basic but good for the region and sufficient for the day to day running.

I had the pleasure of meeting the full time cricket staff (Andrew Knott, Rarua Dikana, John Ovia and Siaka Lega) luckily for me they all have very easy nicknames.

Friday night was a chance to meet some of the board members at the yacht club in town, great place and excellent food. The night gave me an opportunity to see where they believed they were at and a chance for me to get a overall idea of its structure.

Saturday was an exciting day for PNG cricket but also a day that I had been looking forward to as I could see some cricket with the school finals. All three age groups and girls played at two local grounds out of town.

The best was saved for last when the under 19s final went down to the second last over and two wickets in hand, the celebrations in PNG are something worth travelling for as you can see by the pictures. The girls danced like they were at a concert and the guys ran and hugged for sometime.

In the evening it was a chance to have a meal with the PNG captain (Rarua Dikana - 'Roogie')and potential future coach to discuss the high performance structure and plans for the future, in particular the World Cricket League tournament in Argentina which is in January. If PNG finish in the top two they will then play of for a spot in the World Cup, they are currebtly the highest ranked in that division.

Roogie has played cricket for many years and has done allot for the game, he is very quietly spoken but clearly passionate about the game. I was able to ask allot about his culture and family life, I was even told how he gave up his 4th child for his sister as she could not conceive. Something like that would turn heads in Australia but it is clear family means the world to these people.

It was a quiet night for us all as we had a big day Sunday for the final of the SP (South Pacific Beer) series. The series has gone for almost 3 months and consists of the best players, they all play for a franchise similar to the IPL and have contracts that mean they must train once a week and attend games, something that has increased the professionalism of the players.

Its Sunday, a warm but also windy day in Port Moresby, the final is played at the home of cricket, Amini Park. The final is between Telikom Titans and Trukai Invicibles, both sides with loads of talent.

Unfortunately the game did not live up to the hype and Trukai were bowled out for 141, it only took 20 overs for Telikom to claim the first SP series final.

A play off between 3rd and 4th was on the neighbouring ground, very contrasting as Jamie Brazier smashed 170 for his Brian Bell side and they reached a total of 394 off their 50 overs. Steamships Hardware did however not embarrassing themselves as they made 304 to only go down by 90 runs.

After the presentations it was a chance for me to have a few beers (Local product sponsor) and head to Hanuabada meaning large village. Believe it or not this village is almsot a sporting academy with majority of the national team from there and also a few Olympic medallist with weightlifting.

I was lucky enough to meet Douglas who is the national weightlifting coach, I asked for some of his kids to show me there talents including little Freddy a 9yr old weightlifting enthusiast. I also witnessed silver medallist Rita Curry (19 yr old 55kg) lift 75 kg.... amazing to say the least, it was about 9pm and they were happy to show me.

Now this is no AIS, this is a village. Basically made from left over materials and put together by the families, each house having 3 or 4 families living together.

The weightlifting training facilities you ask? Well one bar with numerous well worn weights, some boards to not break the hard cold concrete and some basic powder for the hands. PNG compete with the rest of the world by just training here, begs me to ask whether we invest too much money into what we think are 'essential' training items.

Now it was my chance to show them I was happy to try something very different.... No not weightlifting but a Bettlenut, these nuts are soft in the middle and give you a slight rush. It is actually a problem as they mix it with a white powder and spit it all along the streets. Imagine the gum on our streets x 2 and bright blood looking red everywhere, not nice.

It is also known to give mouth cancer and many people loose teeth, kids as young as 6are having bettlenuts everyday.

Well time to head home via QLD and onto sunny Melbourne (I wish):-)

First Week

Well I have just completed my first week at the ICC and just as I thought I loved it. The role has a great mix of high performance coaching and management of country development programs as well as more strategic operations.

I'm off to Port Moresby in PNG at the end of the week (Fri - Mon), this will give me a really good insight into one of our priority countries as they have reached division 2 in the World Cricket League and only a competition away from been included in the last two spots in the World Cup Qualifying competition.

PNG from what I have been told it is a very interesting country in all aspects, culture and of course the cricket program. I will be sure to take many pictures and have a great next blog next week.

Beyond the Rope

Well I have finally got around to starting my blog to keep family and friends up to speed of where I'am and where I'm heading to next.

As most of you are aware I have taken on a role with the International Cricket Council, no way Im writing that every time so it is called the ICC from now on ok.

This has meant a dramatic change in my life and a move to another city in Melbourne, some 2000kms from my family in Perth. So far it has been fantastic, I have spent the last four days here getting used to my surroundings and of course some shopping as Melbourne is certainly a colder climate.

So a little more about my job, basically im resposnsible for the development of cricket in the East Asia Pacific region, this includes about ten member countries all vying for the ultimate and that is to play in the cricket world cup.

Majority of my work will be based at the Cricket Australia offices in Jolimont accross from the MCG, whilst I will travel about 5 months of the year throughout asia and beyond I still will be responsible for allot of admin and planning here in cold Melbourne.

Im certainly know author so please excuse my grammar and spelling, I can make one promise and that is to be as honest as can be about my expirences and my thoughts.

Please check back soon :-)

Important Dates Update -
June 2008
Port Moresby - PNG June 17th - 22nd

July 2008
Perth - July 4th - 6th