Vanuatu offers live action
Vanuatu is very apt to be the only venue on the globe to have hosted a competitive cricket final this weekend because so many international sport remains shut around the globe.
The women's final was preceded by a men's exhibition match and streamed live from the administrative centre Port Vila on the Vanuatu Cricket Twitter feed and Facebook page.
Vanuatu Cricket Association leader Shane Deitz, the former South Australia left-hander, had invited anyone missing live action to tune in to a live stream from the tropical island in the South Pacific.
"It's among the only live sports all over the world at the moment. We are able to showcase a little of cricket for everybody who's in lockdown," Deitz told the Associated Press.
He also said that these were surprised by the huge response from the viewers so far.
Bored sports fans, he added, "can easily see something a bit different. We will offer some entertainment - that's what we're trying to do".
Vanuatu went into lock down late last month as a precaution through the coranavirus pandemic, and was then hit by a destructive cyclone on April 6.
The country, some 2,000 kilometres off the east coast of Australia, includes a population of 300,000 but hasn't yet recorded an individual case of COVID-19.
"We're lucky within Vanuatu and life is time for normal so we thought it was our duty to provide the world with some live sport," Deitz said in a video posted on Twitter ahead of the final. "We really hope that everyone around the world can tune in watching some fantastic cricket coming from Vanuatu and split up the boredom you must be suffering stuck in your living rooms."
While they're celebrating a reopening, there's work to be achieved in elements of the island archipelago that are rebuilding after Cyclone Harold.
Cricket is a significant sport in Vanuatu, which includes roughly 80 islands and a population of almost 300,000. In the past, Deitz said stars including former Australia captain Steve Waugh and fast bowler Merv Hughes visited Port Vila.
After ten years of playing first-class cricket for South Australia, Deitz moved into coaching in New Zealand, then in Bangladesh and has lived for five years in Vanuatu, where he made his international debut as a new player in 2018.
His aim is to keep developing the overall game and facilities, hoping to create Vanuatu a destination for club teams and national junior teams to apply and play.
