THE national cricket side has arrived in Lismore in New South Wales, Australia for the 2014 Pepsi ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) Men’s Trophy competition.
Fiji will compete against the top ranked regional side Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Philippines, Cook Islands, Samoa, Indonesia and Japan in the competition.
The top-ranked team at the conclusion of the round-robin will advance to next year’s ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland.
Fiji under the guidance of former Bangladesh coach Shane Jurgensen is hoping to advance to the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier during this meet.
National team skipper Joe Rika said they were hoping to build on the success they gained in the practice matches.
“The first couple of weeks in Australia have gone really well for us,” Rika told ICC EAP.
“We’ve had a few matches that have played out the way we wanted to, but there are a few things we need to fix up obviously for Lismore and hopefully everything fall in place for the Wednesday start.”
PNG which recorded a historic ODI win against Hong Kong last week, have their sights firmly set on contesting another Twenty20 Qualifier in 2015.
“Last time in Auckland we said to ourselves that we don’t expect to just roll over everyone in our region,” PNG vice-captain Jack Vare said.
“We know other teams will provide a threat so we just have to be clinical in what we are doing and do the little things well.”
Fiji will play Indonesia and PNG in its opening matches today.
