Tony Ura (born 15 October 1989) is a Papua New Guinean

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. Ura is a right-handed

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

International career

Having played age group cricket for Papua New Guinea Under-19s in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup and 2010 Under-19 World Cup, he proceeded to be selected as a part of the

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

squad for the 2011 World Cricket League Division Three, where he played 6 matches, helping them earn promotion to 2011 World Cricket League Division Two. It was in this competition that he made his List A debut against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

. He played a further 5 List A matches in the competition, the last coming against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. In his 6 matches in the competition, he scored 92 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 15.33, with a

half century One half ( : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing one by two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two, or "halving"; conversely, ...

high score of 52. This score came against Bermuda. Ura made his One Day International debut for Papua New Guinea on 8 November 2014 against Hong Kong in Australia. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut for Papua New Guinea against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the

2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, for the 2016 World Twenty20, was held from 6 to 26 July 2015. The tournament was hosted by both Ireland and Scotland. 51 matches were played among 14 nations, down from 72 matches among 16 nations previous ...

tournament on 15 July 2015. In the

2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two te ...

, Ura scored a national record 151 runs from 142 balls against Ireland. He was named player of the match despite his team losing. In the next match against

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, the inaugural ODI between the two teams, he scored 37 runs from 45 balls, hitting two sixes off the bowling of

Ashley Nurse Ashley Renaldo Nurse (born 22 December 1988) is a West Indian cricketer who plays first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket for Barbados. He is a right-arm off-break bowler and a right-handed batsman. International career Nurse made his Twenty ...

. Following the conclusion of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

(ICC) named Ura as the rising star of Papua New Guinea's squad. In August 2018, he was named in Papua New Guinea's squad for Group A of the

2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier The 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier was the tournament played in Fiji and Philippines as part of qualification process for the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Twelve regional qualifiers were held by the International Cricket Coun ...

tournament. In Papua New Guinea's opening match of the qualifier, against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

, Ura scored 120 runs from 55 balls. In March 2019, he was named in Papua New Guinea's squad for the Regional Finals of the

tournament. On 23 March 2019, during Papua New Guinea's match against the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Ura became the first batsman for Papua New Guinea to score a century in a T20I match, scoring 107

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 243 runs in four matches. The following month, he was named in Papua New Guinea's squad for the

2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two The 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was an international cricket tournament that took place in April 2019 in Namibia. It was contested between six teams; Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Papua New Guinea, the United States and tournament hos ...

tournament in Namibia. In June 2019, he was selected to represent the Papua New Guinea cricket team in the men's tournament at the 2019 Pacific Games. In September 2019, he was named in Papua New Guinea's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine which teams would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finishing ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. In August 2021, Ura was named in Papua New Guinea's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ura, Tony 1989 births Living people Papua New Guinean cricketers Papua New Guinean sportsmen Papua New Guinea One Day International cricketers Papua New Guinea Twenty20 International cricketers Wicket-keepers