Cricket at the Pacific Games

A cricket tournament at the Pacific Games, previously the South Pacific Games, was introduced in 1979 and was played intermittently at games in the 1980s and 1990s, depending on the facilities of the host nation. Since 2003, cricket has featured at every Pacific Games. Detailed records of the tournaments prior to 2003 have not been kept and beyond knowing what teams won the gold and silver medals at each Games, little is known with certainty of the first three tournaments.[1]

Cricket at the Pacific Games
AdministratorICC
FormatT20, T20I, WT20I
First edition1979 (men)
2015 (women)
Latest edition2019 (men)
2019 (women)
Tournament formatRound-robin and playoffs
Current champion Papua New Guinea (men) (7th title)
 Samoa (women) (2nd title)
Most successful Papua New Guinea (men) (7 titles)
 Samoa (women) (2 titles)

Performance by team
Legend
  • 1st – Gold
  • 2nd – Silver
  • 3rd – Bronze
  • GS – Group stage
  • Q – Qualified
  •     — Hosts

Men's tournament
Team* Games Total
Fiji
1979		 New Caledonia
1987		 Papua New Guinea
1991		 Fiji
2003		 Samoa
2007		 New Caledonia
2011		 Papua New Guinea
2015		 Samoa
2019
 Cook Islands ———3rd————1
 Fiji 3rd2nd2nd2nd2nd2nd——6
 New Caledonia 6th4th4–6th6th5th4th4th4th8
 Papua New Guinea 1st1st1st1st1st1st2nd1st8
 Samoa † 5th——4th3rd——3rd4
 Solomon Islands ——4–6th—————1
 Tonga 4th—3rd—4th—3rd—3
 Tuvalu 7th———————1
 Vanuatu † 2nd3rd4–6th5th—3rd1st2nd7

Women's tournament
Team* Games Total
Papua New Guinea
2015		 Samoa
2019
 Cook Islands 5th—1
 Fiji 3rd4th2
 New Caledonia 6th—1
 Papua New Guinea 2nd2nd2
 Samoa 1st1st2
 Vanuatu 4th3rd2

Results

1979

Venue: Suva, Fiji

Seven teams contested the first cricket tournament at the South Pacific Games.[2]

PNG beat Tuvalu by 195 runs in their opening game, scoring 220/9 from 60 overs before bowling Tuvalu out for just 25 runs. Vavine Pala took 5/10. The game between Fiji and New Hebrides was unable to proceed due to a wet outfield.[3] PNG later suffered a shock loss to Tonga before defeating Fiji in the semi-final by 20 runs.[4] In the other semi-final New Hebrides defeated Tonga. PNG ultimately won the final by nine wickets after bowling the New Hebrides out for 53 runs, with 20-year-old fast bowler Mike Steven taking 8/27.[5]

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea a
2nd place, silver medalist(s) New Hebrides
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Fiji
4  Tonga
5  Western Samoa b
6  New Caledonia
7  Tuvalu

1987

Venue: Nouméa, New Caledonia

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea c
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Fiji
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Vanuatu
4  New Caledonia

1991

Venue: Port Moresby/Lae, Papua New Guinea

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea [6] d
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Fiji
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Tonga
4/5/6  New Caledonia
 Solomon Islands
 Vanuatu

2003
Main article: Cricket at the 2003 South Pacific Games

Venue: Suva, Fiji

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea [7][8]
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Fiji
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Cook Islands
4  Samoa
5  Vanuatu
6  New Caledonia

2007
Main article: Cricket at the 2007 South Pacific Games

Venue: Apia, Samoa

Round robin tournament of limited overs cricket (maximum 50 overs per side).

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea [9]
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Fiji
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Samoa
4  Tonga
5  New Caledonia

2011
Main article: Cricket at the 2011 Pacific Games

Venue: Noumea, New Caledonia

In 2011 the format was switched to the shorter Twenty20 game instead of the previous 50 over cricket. A round-robin stage was played before the two top teams met in the final.

Rank Team Refs
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea [10]
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Fiji
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Vanuatu
4  New Caledonia

2015
Main article: Cricket at the 2015 Pacific Games

Venue: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

In 2015, a women's tournament was held for the first time alongside the men's tournament. The 20-over format was retained.

Men
Rank Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Vanuatu
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Tonga
4  New Caledonia

Women
Rank Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Samoa
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Fiji
4  Vanuatu
5  Cook Islands
6  New Caledonia

2019
Main article: Cricket at the 2019 Pacific Games

Venue: Apia, Samoa

Tonga included both men's and women's cricket in its successful bid for the 2019 Pacific Games, to be held in Nukuʻalofa.[11] However, Tonga withdrew from hosting in May 2017 and was replaced by Samoa.

Men
Rank Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Vanuatu
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Samoa
4  New Caledonia

Women
Rank Team
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Samoa
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Papua New Guinea
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Vanuatu
4  Fiji

Pacific Mini Games

For the first time, Vanuatu included a men's cricket tournament in its successful bid for the 2017 Pacific Mini Games, to be held in Port Vila.[12] The cricket facilities near Korman Stadium are planned to be renovated before the tournament.[13] However, the effects of Cyclone Pam in 2015 have, according to some sources, cast doubt upon the country's ability to host the games.[14]

Records

As detailed results have not been kept for the first three tournaments,[1] it is not possible to present detailed records. What is known is that Papua New Guinea's total of 572/7 against New Caledonia is the highest team total in any international one-day match, along with the winning margin of 510 runs, and therefore also in the South Pacific Games.[15]

See also

Notes

^* The number of teams at the tournaments has varied – there were seven teams in 1979,[16] then four in 1987 and five in 1991.[1] When the sport resumed at the 2003 games, six teams contested,[17] but this number dropped to five in 2007 and four in 2011 and 2015 (for the men's tournament – the women's tournament had six teams).[9]

^† Samoa and Vanuatu competed as Western Samoa and the New Hebrides, respectively, at the 1979 games.[16]

^a 1979: Pacific Islands Monthly reported Papua New Guinea defeating New Hebrides in the final to win gold, passing the required total of 53 with the loss of only one wicket.[2] Fiji defeated Tonga in a much closer third place play-off to win bronze by two wickets, passing the formidable total set by Tonga of 183 for the loss of six wickets.[2]

^b 1979: Roy Morgan's Encyclopedia of World Cricket indicates that Western Samoa finished fifth at the 1979 South Pacific Games.[1] They played New Caledonia in the fifth place play-off so New Caledonia are assumed to have finished sixth. Tuvalu finished seventh.[1]

^c 1987: Roy Morgan's Encyclopedia of World Cricket indicates that Papua New Guinea defeated Fiji in the final to decide the gold and silver medals. The other three teams taking part were New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The same book indicates that New Caledonia have never won an international match, so they are assumed to have finished fifth with either the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu winning the bronze or finishing fourth.[1]

^d 1991: Results presented here are based on sparse records. The official results from the SPG website list PNG, Fiji and Tonga as the gold, silver and bronze medalists, respectively.[6] Roy Morgan's Encyclopedia of World Cricket indicates that Papua New Guinea defeated Fiji in the final to decide the gold and silver medals. However it did not mention Tonga, and noted only two other teams in the tournament, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The same book indicates that New Caledonia have never won an international match, which might lend weight to the assumption that Vanuatu won the bronze medal. For this article, however, the official results are preferred.

References
  1. Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, Sportsbooks Publishing, 2007
  2. "Last of the Super Games/The Medal Winners" (PDF). Pacific Island Monthly. 50 (10): 16. 1979. Archived from the original (PDF 0.8 MB) on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  3. Thomas, Brian (30 August 1979). "Agonia, Ao set up victory". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.
  4. Thomas, Brian (6 September 1979). "Cricketers to meet New Hebrides for gold". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.
  5. Thomas, Brian (7 September 1979). "Stevens key to win". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.
  6. 1991 South Pacific Games Results. Oceania Sport Information Centre (Report). Archived from the original on 31 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  7. Scorecard of Fiji v Papua New Guinea, 9 August 2003 at tournament's official website
  8. Scorecard of Cook Islands v Samoa, 9 August 2003 at tournament's official website
  9. 2007 South Pacific Games Archived 2008-05-31 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  10. Sporting Pulse, 2011.
  11. Tongan bid for the 2019 Games, Pacific Games Council
  12. Republic of Vanuatu bid to host the Pacific Mini Games 2017. Retrieved from Sporting Pulse, 8 July 2015.
  13. (22 September 2014). "Vanuatu sports facilities set for an overhaul for 2017 Pacific Mini Games" – Radio Australia. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  14. (23 March 2015). "Cyclone Pam puts 2017 Vanuatu Mini Games in doubt" – Radio New Zealand International. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  15. Papua New Guinea run riot Archived 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine by Andrew Nixon, 1 September 2007 at CricketEurope
  16. 1979 South Pacific Games at CricketArchive
  17. 2003 South Pacific Games cricket tournament official website
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