From seasonal workers to beating full-member nation, Vanuatu dare to dream
The moment Maiyllise Carlot hit the winning runs against Zimbabwe at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Tim Cutler, the CEO of Cricket Vanuatu, a self-declared bad watcher of the game, felt like he was having an out of body experience. After all, the lowest-ranked team amongst those gathered for the Global Qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, had just beaten the full-member nation, on their debut, a week after the successfully conducted a crowd-funding exercise for their playing kits.
"Where to start!” Cutler was trying to find words while speaking with this daily from Abu Dhabi. “I was up in the stands, not in the dugout. I ride every ball and feel like I am there, but I am not. It’s actually a stressful situation. It was something of an out of body experience being there and watching what can be only described as a fantasy for the players. Just to see the calmness with which the batters delivered. So much was riding on the shoulders of Rachel Andrew usually (one of the most experienced players and opener), and for us to perform with her not scoring many runs was just amazing. They were world class,” Cutler tried to find the words.
This is the team made up of players who have to leave their home country, Vanuatu, for nine months every year to do work in Australia. And as former Pakistan captain Sana Mir told the viewers while commentating, most of the squad work as seasonal work when they are away for home. While at the venue, when Cutler was riding the emotions, he was not alone. Vanuatu had one of their biggest supporters in the stands with them, Rodney Prestia, CEO of I Comply Horticultural Compliance And Labour Management — the company that has hired eight players from the squad for some seasonal work in Australia.
“So basically everyone who shined yesterday, works for us,” Prestia, who surprised the squad by flying to Abu Dhabi, told this daily. "Nasimana Navaika, who took the four wickets, captain Selina Solman, Rachel Andrews, who took two wickets, Vicky Mansale, opening batter, Valenta Langiatu and others. Eight of the playing 11 all work for us. Australia have a partnership with Vanuatu called a Seasonal Work Program, where workers can come from Vanuatu to Australia and conduct seasonal work. They are working in a town called Stanthorpe, three hours from Brisbane. The players have been picking tomatoes, capsicums and strawberries. We have practice nets near the accommodation. As soon as they finish work at 4 PM, they get changed and train until the sun goes down. They have done really well in the Australian local domestic league albeit in all boys teams.”
When asked about how this programme — where players were encouraged to stay in touch with their sport even when they were away from home — came about, Presita gave credit to the former Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau. “This idea came up when I had a conversation with the then Prime Minister of Vanuatu. He was a little bit critical that I was taking all the good sportspeople out of Vanuatu and into seasonal work. The government said, we are trying hard to develop players but we lose them to Australia to fruit picking because we can't compete with the salaries on offer. He said we have to try and find a way we can do both. So we started this program with Vanuatu beach volleyball first and then with the men's and women's cricket. That has grown and evolved from there.”
The victory against the full-member nation feels like a monumental achievement when one looks at all the hardships the Vanuatu players have been through just to get to that level. But that’s not the end of it. Most of them are currently on leave from their seasonal jobs so that they could represent the island nation in the global qualifiers. Some of them flew directly from Australia and many will go back to their jobs to complete the contract. “Some of them have done about six months of contract now. So the players, when they finish their tournament here, will return to Australia and back to the farm and complete their last three months of seasonal work because it's a nine-month contract. The players are now on leave and we're lucky we've got farms that support the players as well,” Prestia informed.
The love of sports finds a way to make things happen. And that is what these "very underrated and extremely talented" players in Prestia’s words are showing in the Qualifiers. After the experience of a lifetime, in the first match, Cutler is ready to go through those emotions all over again: “We dare to dream. I have to say, we are not done yet after that performance. We have seen what self-belief can do. It has only just begun.”
With their performance against Zimbabwe, these players have well and truly put the nation on the world map. And there is no stopping them. In all of this, at the end, cricket is a real winner.