The Samoa women's Under-19 cricket team in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the ICC Under-19 T-20 World Cup. Photo: Samoa Cricket Photo: Samoa Cricket
Samoa's Under-19 women's cricket captain Avetia Fetu is excited about her team's debut appearance at the ICC Under-19 Twenty20 World Cup in Malaysia.
Her team won the East Asia qualifiers last year to claim a spot at their first World Cup competition.
Speaking to International Cricket Committee (ICC) media, Fetu said the experience with the other team captains at the launch, in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, made their shock qualification and their tournament debut finally feel real.
"It was a good meet-up - getting to meet the other girls was unbelievable," she said.
"The feeling is pretty intense. Not in a bad way, but I could just feel the pressure lift a little bit."
That was the only time that the captains of the respective sides will all be in the same place. The 16 teams will split up to different parts of the country for the pool stage which begins on 18 January.
Samoa is in Group C, along with New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa. Group C teams will travel to Sarawak on the island of Borneo, while Group B teams (England, Ireland, Pakistan and USA) head south to Johor, close to the border with Singapore. Group A (Sri Lanka, West Indies, Malaysia and India) and B action remains in the outskirts of the capital, across Bayuemas Oval and UKM Oval respectively.
Samoa will play Nigeria in Sarawak, in their first pool game. After that, they meet South Africa on 20 January, and New Zealand on 22 January.
A total of 41 matches will be played at the tournament, with the top three teams in each group progressing to two Super Six groups. Group stage points, picked up against other progressing teams, carry over into the second round. The top two teams in each Super Six group move on to the semi-finals.
Auckland cricket assistance
The Samoa women's Under-19 cricket team in Auckland, with Auckland Cricket captain and Samoan international Sean Solia (standing second from right), before the team flew to Malaysia. Photo: Samoa Cricket Photo: Samoa Cricket
The Samoan team's spirits were lifted by some support from the Auckland Cricket Association.
Auckland Aces captain and Samoan international, Sean Solia, spent time with the team.
"It's huge, as it's the first time Samoa has ever qualified [for] a men's or women's team for a Cricket World Cup," Samoa Cricket said.
"Sean is massively passionate about cricket in the Pacific. We all can't wait to watch the girls' progress."
Auckland Cricket provided training grounds and warm-up games for the team, before they flew off to Malaysia.
