They might be overwhelming favourites but Papua New Guinea insist there is no risk of complacency in their camp during this week's East Asia Pacific Under 19 Cricket Champs in Blenheim.
PNG have represented the region at the last four Under 19 World Cups and the winner of this week's tournament will earn direct entry into next year's event in Bangladesh.
In a change from last year, the runner-up will get a second chance to qualify at a global event featuring teams from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.
The PNG Garamuts play Fiji in their first match and national head coach Dipak Patel, who is assisting the team, says they're taking all of their opposition seriously.
"People keep talking about the Cricket PNG Under 19 boys being favourites but we've just got to take every game as it comes. We've tried to prepare our boys the best we can with limited resources and we feel we can go into the tournament comfortable [with the challenge of] sort of defending our title from the previous years so [ we will] see how we go".
Vanuatu meet Samoa in the other first-round match.
The PNG Garamuts in Blenheim for the EAP Under 19 Cricket Trophy. Photo: Cricket PNG
