Nipiko - The Story Behind the Pacific Games Champions
20th of July 2015
Nalin Nipiko strides to the crease at Amini Park in Port Moresby. He is greeted by the roar of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) supporters celebrating the dismissal of Vanuatu wicket keeper Trevor Langa. This is their fortress. Their home. The home of the Pacific’s cricket Powerhouse, PNG. PNG have never failed to win a Pacific Games Cricket Gold medal since the inclusion of cricket in the Games of 1979. In fact they haven’t lost a Pacific Games match since 1991. This also happens to be Vanuatu’s first Pacific Games cricket final since that 1979 final against PNG 36 years ago.
Nipiko enters with Vanuatu in a precarious position after losing 2 wickets for just 7 runs. This is one of the biggest stages in Pacific cricket: the Gold medal match of the Pacific Games. He allows the first 2 balls to pass him by or fall harmlessly off the face of his bat and surveys the field.
By the next ball he seems to have the measure of the bowler and dispatches the ball to the fence for his first boundary of the innings. He would go on to find the boundary another seven times for a total of 7 fours and 1 six before the end.
Nipiko joins Patrick Matautaava and they begin to set the foundation for the team’s run chase before Matautaava is caught and the game is delicately balanced with Vanuatu 3-36. An over later Vanuatu are again holding their breath when Captain Andrew Mansale falls for a duck, caught behind off the fiery quick Raymond Hoada. Now its 4/37.The momentum seems to swing in favor of PNG and the vocal PNG crowd find their voice again. Nipiko however, ably supported by the composure of Simpson Obed, is not intimidated and does not falter, in fact he begins to accelerate as Vanuatu advance toward their final target. He bats for another 7 overs virtually pushing the game out of PNG’s reach before eventually falling 1 run short of his half century but with Vanuatu now in control with only 11 runs needed to win. Vanuatu calmly cruise home to a famous victory with 17 balls to spare and 4 wickets in hand and pandemonium ensues with the Vanuatu players storming the pitch in wild celebration. The PNG crowd’s disappointment can be heard around the ground as the unbroken run of cricket gold medals is broken. For Vanuatu the shadow in which they have been seen has been cast off and they have now stepped into the light and tasted the sweet victory of Pacific Games Gold.
This fairytale story seems surprising to some. Certainly Papua New Guinea can’t seem to believe that they lost, four times in a week. Should the people of Vanuatu surprised? Cricket has not had the profile it deserves but the history of development of the game in Vanuatu and the talent on show is testament to the tireless work of many people behind the scenes to take Vanuatu from the conquered to the conqueror!
The story does not begin in Port Moresby however but in Port Vila, Vanuatu several years ago. Nipiko and all his team mates in the golden squad of 2015 are products of the Vanuatu Cricket Development Program and the Vanuatu ANZ High Performance Program. These players have been playing together since 2000 when Vanuatu Cricket began their development program. They have been involved in international cricket since 2005 when the International Cricket Council (ICC) began age group tournaments in the region. Vanuatu established its cricket High Performance Program in 2009 and all the current crop have been involved in that program. For those close to that development watching them grow into the cricketers they are today there is no surprise at what has been achieved so far.
Six years to the day before the start of this 2015 Pacific Games, Nipiko played his international debut as a 13 year old boy for Vanuatu Under 15s against Tonga U15s in Jakarta, Indonesia. Nipiko would go on to score 3 50s in that tournament at an average of 86 and take 13 wickets at an average of 7.85 runs per wicket!
Two years after that game he made his senior international debut for Vanuatu at Amini Park in Port Moresby against the eventual champions Papua New Guinea. He promptly hit the first ball he faced for four. However it wasn’t enough to topple the mighty PNG Barramundis that day.
In 2012 he posted an unbeaten 180 against the Fijian under 17s in a dominant display that had him chosen for the national team to play World Cricket League Division Eight in Samoa. He smashed 214 runs and took 8 wickets in the competition to be named player of the tournament at only 16 years of age as Vanuatu stormed unbeaten to win the event.
Nipiko is a perfect example of what cricket can offer players in Vanuatu and his story is like that of many others. The Vanuatu Cricket Association saw the talent in a small boy and said “I think he can play for Vanuatu”. Nipiko was discovered in Vanuatu Cricket’s development program and was then introduced to Vanuatu’s High Performance Program where he was nurtured and trained. Cricket has given Nipiko the chance to represent his family, village, island, province and now his country all around the world. Nipiko has now played cricket in 14 different countries including Australia, Botswana, Canada, England, Fiji, Indonesia, Ireland, Jersey, Kuwait, New Caledonia, New Zealand,Papua New Guinea, Samoa and of course Vanuatu. Next month Nipiko will make it 15 countries when the national team plays against the Netherlands before heading to England for World Cricket League Division Six.
At the Pacific Games Nipiko made 219 runs including his first century at senior level and a Vanuatu Twenty20 International record of 105. He also took 3 wickets to go with his runs and was arguably Vanuatu’s most valuable player. Vanuatu in this tournament also posted the second highest total in the history of Twenty20 International cricket when they made 285 runs against New Caledonia on the back of Nipiko’s hundred. This total is a record for any team from the East Asia-Pacific region, beating the record previously held by PNG. The 234 run margin of victory however is indeed a world record rivaling that of Vanuatu’s 46-0 defeat of Micronesia. Vanuatu also created history by becoming only the second team to win a Pacific Games Gold medal for cricket and are now the only team from the EAP region to have beaten PNG in the last decade, which they did three times at these games.
For those who are familiar with the sport’s growth in Vanuatu there has been nothing surprising in these results. If you are surprised to read about Vanuatu’s performances over the last week then it will probably surprise you that Vanuatu cricket had over 19000 cricket participants last year across three provinces. Vanuatu also has over 150 accredited coaches and over 60 accredited umpires. There are now cricket programs in every school on Efate and add to that another 25 schools from Santo and 20 schools from Tanna and it becomes the biggest sports development program in Vanuatu. If that is also surprising are you then surprised that Vanuatu has defeated 21 nations over the last five years with countries coming from Asia, Africa, South America, Europe and the Pacific? Is it surprising that Vanuatu is the only team from the East Asia-Pacific region to win a global tournament? Not even Papua New Guinea has done that. Then it may also surprise you to hear that Cricket is the number 1 ranked sporting team in Vanuatu with a Global ranking of 35 out of 105 ICC member nations.
DON’T BE SURPRISED ANY LONGER. Vanuatu cricket has one of the best development programs and high performance programs in the region. Nipiko is still only 19 and will only get better just like Vanuatu. Vanuatu have some serious cricket talent and they will continue to be the Vanua Pawa of cricket and Neva Givap ever. Please Vanuatu support your cricket team as they take on the world in September for a chance to climb the world rankings and move toward the top of World Cricket.
Written by Llewelyn Scott-Hoy