CRICKET Fiji’s national under-19 girls’ and the senior men’s teams have two major competitions in 2026.
The U19 girls’ team will compete for the second time in a world cup qualifier which will be hosted by Papua New Guinea.
“There will be most probably five to six teams playing in this tournament and the winner qualifies directly to the world cup in 2027,” Cricket Fiji CEO Siti Rokoro stated in an interview with this newspaper.
The build-up for this started in November with the final team expected to be named in Match next year.
“We have been running clinics from the 22nd of last month, 29th and 6th of this month. We have started with our women’s league last Saturday at Albert Park. Most of these players are all U19 so this is part of our preparation phase to select the team to go to PNG.
“We will have a national U19 trial on January 14 to select the national training squad of U19 players. We might have the final selection for the team after the secondary schools U19 women’s tournament around March. Selection will span across schools in Suva and Nadi.”
While the U19 girls’ will get direct qualification to the world cup if they win the qualifier, the national men’s team on the other hand, will have their work cut out for them.
“The men will see a new format that the ICC has proposed and will be put into action next year. There are eight teams that will participate in the world cup qualifier in Japan. The winner will go through the next global qualifier and from there the winner will qualify to the world cup.”
Both these teams are under the guidance of local coaches and Cricket Fiji hopes their new national coach from India will arrive in time to offer technical advise before they depart for their respective qualifiers.
