The Papua New Guinea women's national cricket team, nicknamed the Lewas, represents the country of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

in international

women's cricket Women's cricket is the team sport of cricket when played by woman, women. Its Laws of cricket, rules are almost identical to those in the game played by men, the main change being the use of a smaller cricket ball, ball. Women's cricket is b ...

. The team is organised by Cricket PNG, an associate member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). Papua New Guinea has been the leading women's associate team in the

ICC East Asia-Pacific ICC East Asia-Pacific is the International Cricket Council region responsible for administration of the sport of Cricket in East Asia and the Pacific area; Oceania. The ICC EAP was founded in 1996. It is subordinate to the International Cricket ...

(EAP) since its international debut in 2006. It has represented EAP at the 50-Over World Cup Qualifier and T20 World Cup Qualifier on a number of occasions, making the semi-finals of the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifiers. It was awarded

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) status in 2022.

History

Papua New Guinea made its international debut in September 2006, playing a three-match series against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to determine which team would represent the

(EAP) region at the 2008 World Cup Qualifier.Other women's matches played by Papua New Guinea women
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 November 2015. Papua New Guinea won the series against Japan three–nil, but at the World Cup Qualifier won only two matches, both against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. The team failed to qualify for either the 2011 World Cup Qualifier or the 2013 World Twenty20 Qualifier, with Japan representing the EAP region on both occasions.Women's Twenty20 matches played by Papua New Guinea women
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 November 2015. At the

2015 Pacific Games The 15th Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

, which Papua New Guinea hosted, a women's cricket event was included for the first time. The team narrowly lost to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in the final, having been undefeated up to that point. Later in the year, Papua New Guinea participated at its second global tournament, the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier, placing fifth out of eight teams. In April 2018, the ICC granted full

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

(WT20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches played between Papua New Guinea women and other international sides since 1 July 2018 are eligible for WT20I status. The team played its first WT20I match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

on 7 July 2018 at

VRA Cricket Ground VRA Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, the home of VRA Amsterdam since 1939. It regularly plays host to the Netherlands home games in the World Cricket League, Intercontinental Cup and CB40. This ground was fi ...

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament held from 7 to 14 July 2018 in the Netherlands. It was the third edition of the Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier and was the qualification tournament ...

. In December 2020, the ICC announced the qualification pathway for the

2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2023 Women's T20 World Cup was the eighth edition of Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in South Africa between 10 February and 26 February 2023. The final took place at Cape Town. Australia won their sixth and third consecutiv ...

. Papua New Guinea were named in the

2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup EAP Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was scheduled to be played in Samoa in September 2021. The matches would have been played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing t ...

regional group, alongside seven other teams. However, in August 2021, the

(ICC) confirmed that the tournament had been cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and due to their ranking, Papua New Guinea qualified for the global qualifier held in 2022. In October 2021, it was reported that Australian Kath Hempenstall had been appointed head coach of the Lewas in preparation for the

2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Zimbabwe in November and December 2021. The tournament was the final part of the qualification process for the 2022 Women's Cricket Worl ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, and it was expected that Hempenstall would meet the team in person for the first time there. However, on 8 November 2021, Papua New Guinea announced that they had been forced to withdraw due to several players recording positive tests for COVID-19. In May 2022, the ICC announced Papua New Guinea as one of five women's sides to gain

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (ODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(ODI) status. The team played its first WODI match against

on 24 March 2024 at the Harare Sports Club,

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

during their tour of Zimbabwe.

Current squad

This lists all the players who were named in the PNG squad for 2024 Netherlands Women's Tri-Nation Series. ''Updated on 15 August 2024.''

Tournament history

Women's T20I Pacific Cup

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Winners *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: Winners

ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: 5th (DNQ) *

: 4th (DNQ) *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: 4th (DNQ) *

: 5th (DNQ)

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continent, continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 South Pacific Games, 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently i ...

: 2nd

Records and statistics

International Match Summary — Papua New Guinea Women ''Last updated 17 June 2025''

One-Day Internationals

*Highest team total: 196 v.

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 6 August 2024 at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd,

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. *Highest individual score: 80 *, Tanya Ruma v.

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on 11 April 2024 at ICC Academy Ground,

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. *Best innings bowling: 4/19, Vicky Ara'a v.

on 26 March 2024 at Harare Sports Club,

. ODI record versus other nations ''Records complete to WODI #1400. Last updated 11 August 2024.''

Twenty20 International

*Highest team total: 219/5 v.

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

on 3 October 2022 at Independence Park Ground 2,

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

. *Highest individual innings: 88 *, Naoani Vare v.

on 5 October 2022 at Vanuatu Cricket Ground,

. *Best innings bowling: 5/2, Hollan Doriga v.

on 3 October 2022 at Vanuatu Cricket Ground (Oval 2),

. Most T20I runs for PNG Women Most T20I wickets for PNG Women T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to WT20I #2376. Last updated 17 June 2025.''