The game of cricket was started in Vanuatu around 1900. This was kicked off by the British Colonial administrators and officials from companies such as Burns Philp. I believe that a number of plantation managers were also involved at that time. The history between then and the 1940's is quite hazy although we are aware that cricket continued in one form or another during that period. Vanuatu Cricket has centred around the capital, Port Vila, although it has been played in Luganville on the Northern Island of Santo from time to time. We recently dug up and re-laid the concrete pitch at Independence Park. The area was previously known as "British Paddock" and some of the local guys remember their fathers telling them that the pitch we dug up was laid in the mid 1940's.

At present we have 8 teams in our senior competition. We play cricket between the months of March and October each year. We have three main competitions. The BDO Club Championships which consists of 14 matches (each club plays the other twice) plus finals. The Independence Cup which is run as a knock-out tournament with modified rules to co-incide with Vanuatu's Independence celebration in July. And, the Tusker Cup which is a round robin tournament between teams comprising of citizens of Vanuatu, Australia, New Zealand, and, UK.

In the club season that just finished we had over 140 senior players take part. We also have a women's "traditional" cricket league which has over 100 players. Traditional cricket differs from the form you are used to in a number of ways.

Some examples are:-

a.. Bats are carved from local trees and weigh around 3kg
b.. Balls are moulded from sap from a particular tree
c.. 14 players field
d.. There are 4 batsmen on the field, 2 to hit and 2 to run
e.. Bowlers throw the ball from end it is returned to
f.. plus others

The traditional cricket our women play is almost identical to that played in New Caledonia.

We also have a kids cricket league. This year we played over six weeks. We use "Kanga" cricket gear and due to our limitation of space we modify the rules so there are 8 players all who bowl an over and all get a chance to bat. We had about 300 boys and girls playing in 7-10 and 11-13 age groups. We played 6 games at a time and 24 games in all on a Saturday morning.

Bruce Nunn with successful participants of Level O coaching course Photo © ICC

Early this year the VCA appointed Pierre Chillia as its Development Officer. Pierre's job has so far been mainly directed at regular visits with primary schools around Port Vila and nearby villages. He has also spent some time at secondary schools. He is teaching the young kids basic skills and drills and generally introducing them to cricket. He is also trying to re-generate cricket at Onesua Presbyterian College which is a secondary school about 80 kilometres from Port Vila which had a strong cricket culture until 1985 but has dropped away since then. One of the keys to capitalising on the interest shown by the kids is to get teachers involved. To this end Pierre recently conducted an "in-service" program for teachers. We hope this will give them confidence to work with the kids in the schools when Pierre is not there.

Our main development aim at this time is to extend the interest we have generated with the young kids. To this end we hope to see a regular competition established at an under-16 level over the next couple of years. This will become the feeder group for our senior competition and National team. We are also looking for teachers to drive a primary school competition in future years. The most significant limitation we face is the availability of cricket grounds. We hope to get funding from the ICC to assist in this area.

We have received little or no direct help from the Australia and New Zealand Cricket Boards in my sixteen years as an administrator/player in Vanuatu. There was nothing before that.

We have had a reasonable degree of individual contact with some Australian players in my time, particularly the Ginger Meggs XI a team of ex-Test players led by Geoff Lawson. We also have had a good relationship with the Bradman Trust in Bowral through James Kemsley ( who draws the Ginger Meggs Cartoons and organises the Ginger Meggs XI) and Richard Mulvaney the director of the Bradman Trust/Museum.

With the introduction of the ICC Development Program in 1998 assistance his increase dramatically. The ICC East-Asia Pacific Development Manager, Matthew Kennedy, has helped initiate a program where we now have a partnership contract with the NSWCA. This will provide us with increased access to technical assistance. The ICC program itself has been a great benefit in terms of facilities and equipment.

We did not perform to our expectations in the 2001 Pacifica Championship. We certainly hope to improve on our 7th placing. The Vanuatu Squad under the guidance of Pierre Chillia and Patrick Haines have now come together as a training unit with a view to becoming a much better performed team at the 2002 Pacifica Championships in Samoa. We learnt that we have to improve our stamina to be able to play competitive cricket for five 50-overs matches in seven or eight days. It is a far cry from our normal regime of one 30-over match each weekend.

We also have a few younger players coming through that did not compete in the Auckland tournament. These include the son and the nephew of our Prime Minister (who in fact represented Vanuatu at cricket with me in the 1991 South Pacific Games in PNG). As many of our players have seen what to expect from the other teams like Samoa, Tonga and Cook Island I think we will be better prepared. Of course many of those Polynesian players are competing at a higher level in competitions around New Zealand. All of our players are based in Vanuatu.

The Pacifica Championships are now the main focus for our national team. We are also looking forward to take part in the 2003 South Pacific Games in Fiji. It will be the first time cricket will be on the program since 1991. This is due to non-cricket playing countries hosting the Games in the intervening period. We are very pleased with the work the ICC Development Program is carrying out. The focus on the smaller cricket playing countries is gratifying although we would like to see a structural re-adjustment whereby we had more of a voice at ICC level. This is unlikely to happen in the near future.

© ICC