Coach Tatenda Taibu: Papua New Guinea's rise in cricket won't happen overnight

HEAD coach Tatenda Taibu said it will be a process for Papua New Guinea (PNG) to start competing against world-class international teams, after making an early exit at the 2024 International Cricket Council T20 World Cup, being held in the West Indies and the US.

PNG did not win a match at the tournament, losing four matches in Group C. However, they played with spirit and smiles on their faces that was appreciated by the crowds.

PNG are an Associate team, still developing in the game of cricket.

“Our goals were to win at least two games which we did not manage to do,” Taibu said in a media conference, following PNG’s last match of the World Cup against New Zealand on June 17.

“However, it is not the end of the world. The boys had to learn the speed of top international cricket and now that they have learnt the speed, we will have a base where we can go back and start working towards our next tournament.”

A process needs to take place to become a world-renowned cricket team, said the former Zimbabwe captain.

“Let’s face that it is going to take some time for teams like PNG or Associate teams to get to the speed of Test playing nations...I remember when I was part of the 2010 T20 World Cup which happened here (in the Caribbean). I remember walking in and no one looked at Afghanistan because they were just an Associate member side and now everyone looks at Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan are no longer considered minnows in world cricket and have advanced to the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

“I think the base for any country or any team is your infrastructure, your human resources and your equipment,” Taibu said. “We struggle in all three departments.”

A larger pool of players will help develop cricket in PNG.

“We still have to get more players playing which we have really improved over the last two years,” Taibu said. “We need to get more equipment. Things that you would think a national team would have like bowling machines...we struggle with a bit of that.”

Taibu enjoys working with his assistant coach Phil Simmons, the former TT and West Indies cricketer.

“Phil Simmons and I go back a long way...I know Phil very well...he was coach when I was captain of Zimbabwe so from there our bond has been close, so to work alongside him (has been great). He knows how I think, I know how he thinks. It’s always good to have someone to run to when ideas are running low and whenever the situation was like that, Phil would always come up with something that was magnificent.”

Taibu said the bond in the team is close. “We don’t look at ourselves as a team. We look at ourselves as a family...we have tried to mould our team as a family where we are always looking out for each other and because of that it is always easier to get the players rallying together.”