progress made by Papua New Guinea cricket in recent years and the rise of Sri Lanka in the 1980s and early 90s.
World Cup winning batsman Asanka Gurusinha says he sees clear parallels between the
progress made by Papua New Guinea cricket in recent years and the rise of Sri Lanka in the 1980s and early 90s.
The PNG Barramundi's earned promotion to full One Day International status earlier this year and are now ranked 16th in the World.
Last year they went within one game of qualifying for the World T20 Championship.
Gurusinha is in PNG this week, alongside fellow 1996 World Cup winner Arjuna Ranatunga and former Australian internationals Carl Rackemann and Andy Bichel to compete in the Don't Drink and Drive T20 Big Bash competition.
He's been impressed by the progress made in PNG.
"I started playing in '84 so also a little bit earlier than that PNG is pretty much in that position where to end up to be number 16 in the world in one day cricket I think it's huge achievement and with so much less facilities and support around, and that's the reason when they spoke to me I pretty much wanted to come down and give whatever I can give back to cricket".
Asanka Gurusinha says he's looking forward to padding up on Saturday and catching up with new PNG coach Dipak Patel, who he played against during his international career.
