Lemach Lavari reports on the little village with a big cricketing heart located within the boundaries of Port Moresby.

Cricket action in Kira Kira. Credit: Kenedy Bani

Picture this, it’s a 30-degree day and you’re sitting under the mango tree in your backyard, sipping a cold drink while watching your community come alive with music and a local T20 cricket match.

This is a regular scene at Kira Kira, a traditional Koitabu village within Port Moresby.

In Kira Kira, cricket has a long and rich history. The sport was introduced by missionaries from the London Missionary Society in the 1930s.

In the T20 grand final between Boremana Hunters and Mahuru 9 Pillars, Mahuru won the game by five wickets. Credit: Kenedy Bani

The Kira Kira Cricket Club (KCC) celebrated its 50th anniversary recently. The club’s cricket pitch was opened in 1974 by Michael Somare, who later became Papua New Guinea’s first prime minister. The pitch, which is still in use today, is a concrete slab, which is cushioned with mats during matches.

KCC runs T20 cricket, which is the shortened format of cricket. The club has seven teams competing across junior and senior men’s divisions. A women’s competition is being planned.

All the matches are played on the same oval, located in the heart of the village. If you’re hitting sixes, you’re hitting rooftops and the walls of houses.

KCC is known for producing some of the best male and female cricketers from PNG, from Daure Lohia, Eddie Tamarua and Babani Harry of the 1980s to Hiri Hiri and Kiplin Doriga, who are part of the current men’s national team, the Barramundis.

Female players include Norma Ovasuru and Nao Kone, who are former national representatives in the PNG Lewas team.

Pioneer cricketer Eddie Tamarua, who was national coach of the Lewas, is contributing his experience for the junior development of cricket in Kira Kira. He says junior development is the key to developing high-value players.

This is also the view of Banaga Mado, who is in charge of KCC’s junior competitions. Banaga believes there is a large talent pool in Kira Kira, and the dream is to create a development pathway to major international leagues in Australia and India.

Moreover, Banaga says it is the strategic thinking of the current KCC executives to align with Cricket PNG, the national governing body, for the development of KCC.

This is an edited version of an article first published in the May–July 2025 issue of Paradise, the in-flight magazine of Air Niugini.