Papua New Guinea believe their recent success in one-day cricket can translate to the longer form of the game.
The Barramundi's recorded back to back 50-over wins against Nepal during the week but will swap the coloured uniforms for whites this evening in Sharjah, when they take on Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup.
The four-day first-class tournament is a pathway to Test cricket, with the eight-team round-robin running until 2017.
PNG won their debut match against the Netherlands in June and will face an Afghan team side who denied them a spot at next year's World Twenty20 tournament.
Cricket PNG's High Performance Manager, Rarua Dikana, is backing the Barramundi's to do well.
"The coach [Dipak Patel] has been working very hard with the boys and [competing in] the four-dayers is pretty new but showing from the Netherlands success the boys have grabbed the three formats with their both hands and adjusted accordingly with the four-dayers. I think we will have success against Afghanistan as well because we're mindful that Afghanistan they go hard. We have never played them in the longer form [of the game]. We've had a lot of video sessions with the boys and they're well prepared for the challenges they will get from the Afghans, who are pretty much the favourites."
The PNG Barramundi's cricket team in the Netherlands. Photo: Supplied
