THE victory by our under-19 cricket team is a major milestone as far as sporting history in Fiji goes since the game was introduced here in 1874.
Now they become the first team from Fiji to be part of the under-19 Cricket World Cup to be held in Bangladesh next year.
The victory over Papua New Guinea was the deciding factor as we have always been beaten by our Pacific Island neighbours in the game.
They have had all the advantage of modern facilities and training because of their close proximity to Australia but our cricket association has also been receiving top training from overseas professionals and the result was inevitable.
It only had to take a group of youngsters who believe in themselves to achieve what was previously impossible.
It is a lesson and inspiration to all our sportsmen and sportswomen out there.
This year 2015 will see two major sporting events, the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea and the Rugby World Cup in England, where Fiji is drawn into the pool of death.
As hosts PNG will be expected to have the biggest team taking part and recently they have been catching up and dominating the track events in athletics while their boxers have continually won gold medals.
They are also expected to battle the French speaking countries in the race for top medal tally.
Fiji may have reduced the number of athletes taking part because of financial problems.
When we come to think of it, it is rather a lame excuse and points to the poor organisation of some sporting bodies in the country.
The Pacific Games happen every four years and if there was proper planning then sporting bodies would have allocated the funds to take their athletes to the biggest sporting testing ground in the region.
If the purpose of taking part in the Pacific Games is to win gold medals only and taking those who have better chances of doing so then it is a poor excuse.
No matter the costs organisers should always have room for development of future competitors by exposing them to such high level competition.
Fiji Cricket has been in the past decades sending young cricketers to overseas and international competitions and have been doing their homework in the development of the game.
They have been beaten and thrashed but they kept sending them over no matter the results.
The victory of the Under 19 team is a reward for their perseverance over the years and the same group of boys will still be eligible next year.
We look forward to Cricket Fiji making more headlines from now on after the under-19 spectacular achievement.
Champions produce sporting idols of which the younger generation will gauge their performance from and it will help build a winning culture in the game.
The under-19 boys have raised the bar and future teams can only improve from there.
Fiji have played major internationl cricket sides such as India and England here and rose to the occassion to jolt the cricket world.
I covered that famous battle against England at Albert Partk where rookie bowler Taione Batina bowled international star and allrounder Ian Botham for duck.
The big-hitting Peni Dakai sending the English fielders scrambling trying to stop his powerful batting of sixes and fours.
Cricket was introduced to Fiji by European settlers in 1874, and the native population began taking up the game in 1878. The governor of Fiji at the time listed introducing cricket to the native Fijians as one of the achievements of his tenure in his memoirs.
Fiji was playing first-class cricket just 21 years after cricket was introduced to the country, when they toured New Zealand in early 1895.
Fiji’s team on the tour in 1895 was captained by John Udal, whose great-grandson Shaun would eventually play Test cricket for England. The first match of the tour was a two-day match against Auckland, which Fiji lost by an innings.
A low scoring second match against Otago was drawn after rain washed out the first of the two days. The third match against Canterbury was also lost by an innings, before a draw against Wellington.
The final two matches of the tour went much better for the Fijians, winning against Hawke’s Bay by an innings after a century from John Collins, and beating Taranaki by two wickets.
In January 1908, Fiji toured Australia. Only one result is known from this tour, a draw against Queensland in a two-day match, highlighted by a seven-wicket haul for Pope Cakobau.The team played 26 matches against state, university and district sides between 11 December 1907 and 30 March 1908.
Fiji toured New Zealand twice more, in 1948 and 1954. Fiji’s first match against a Test-playing nation came in 1956, when the West Indies visited. Fiji won the match against a team featuring the likes of Garfield Sobers by 28 runs despite being bowled out for 91, largely thanks to a six wicket haul from John Gosling.
Like the tour in 1895, the 1948 tour started with a defeat to Auckland, by 168 runs. Fiji won their next match against Wellington by one wicket, before losing to Canterbury by 36 runs.
The tour continued with a 46 run defeat by Otago and concluded with a 115 run win against Auckland. One notable player for Fiji on this tour was IL Bula, who scored the most runs and the only century on the tour.
Bula’s full name is Ilikena Lasarusa Talebulamainavaleniveivakabulaimainakulalakebalau, and his name is thought to be the longest of any first class cricketer.
Just four matches were played on the 1954 tour, which started with a two-wicket defeat to Otago.
The tour continued with another two-wicket defeat, this time to Canterbury, before a 117-run defeat to Wellington.
The tour ended with a seven-wicket win against Auckland. The team included Ratu Kamisese Mara who would go on to become the Prime Minister and President of Fiji.
Fiji gained associate membership of the ICC in 1965. They played in the first ICC Trophy tournament in 1979, and played in every one until 2001.
They also played in the first ACC Trophy in 1996, losing in the semi-final to the UAE.
In 2001, Fiji played in the first Pacifica Cup in Auckland, reaching the final where they lost to the New Zealand Maori by three wickets. They played in the 2002 tournament in Samoa, finishing third after beating the Cook Islands in a play-off.
In 2003, Fiji hosted the South Pacific Games. The cricket tournament saw the hosts lose to Papua New Guinea in the final.
The following year, they took part in the EAP Challenge in Fuji City, Japan, winning after beating Tonga in the final.
This qualified them for the repêchage tournament for the 2005 ICC Trophy. At that tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, they reached the final, where they lost to Papua New Guinea by 30 runs, thus missing out on the 2005 ICC Trophy.
In 2006, Fiji played in the 2006 ICC EAP Cricket Trophy in Brisbane, Australia. They won the tournament winning all of their matches against the Cook Islands and Japan, qualifying them for Division Three of the World Cricket League in Darwin, Australia.
They warmed up for the tournament with a three-match series at home against Vanuatu, winning all three matches, but were unsuccessful in the tournament itself, losing all five games they played, thus meaning they will have to take part in Division Four in 2008.
Later in 2007, they took part in the cricket tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games, losing to Papua New Guinea in the final group game, meaning that they went home with the silver medal.
Fiji took part in the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Nepal, where they finished sixth and last and in doing so failed to win a single match in the tournament. Fiji then played in the 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Six and finished sixth and last and in doing so were relegated to 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Seven.
