John Ovia

John Ovia (born July 16, 1976) is a Papua New Guinean cricketer.[1] A right-handed batsman and right-arm off spin bowler,[2] he has played for the Papua New Guinea national cricket team since the 1997 ICC Trophy.[3] His wife Hebou Morea has played for the Papua New Guinea women's team.[4]

John Ovia

Personal information
Full name	John Ovia
Born	(1976-07-16) 16 July 1976 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Off spin
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997–	Papua New Guinea
List A debut	1 July 2005  Papua New Guinea v  Netherlands
Last List A	11 July 2005  Papua New Guinea v  Uganda
ICC Trophy debut	26 March 1997  Papua New Guinea v  Italy
Last ICC Trophy	11 July 2005  Papua New Guinea v  Uganda
Career statistics
Competition List A ICC Trophy Matches 7 17 Runs scored 114 340 Batting average 16.28 20.00 100s/50s 0/0 0/2 Top score 28 94 Balls bowled 48 197 Wickets 0 2 Bowling average – 99.00 5 wickets in innings – 0 10 wickets in match n/a n/a Best bowling 0/11 2/31 Catches/stumpings 0/0 4/0
Source: Cricket Archive, 14 October 2007

Career

born 16 July 1976 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Ovia first played for Papua New Guinea in the 1997 ICC Trophy. In his debut against Italy,[5] he scored 94 runs and won the man of the match as Papua New Guinea won the match by 101 runs.[6] He played in four more matches in the tournament,[5] including the 13th place play-off against Singapore, which Papua New Guinea won.[7] The following year, he played in the ACC Trophy against Singapore and Malaysia.[8]

In 2001, he represented his country in the Pacifica Cup, taking 3/31 in the third place play-off against Tonga to secure the third place spot in the tournament. This was followed by his second ICC Trophy, the 2001 tournament in Canada.[5] In 2002, he played in the second Pacifica Cup, top scoring in the final against Tonga to help Papua New Guinea win the tournament.[9] The following year, he played in the cricket tournament at the 2003 South Pacific Games, top-scoring in the final against Fiji to pick up a gold medal.[10] The following year, he represented a combined East Asia/Pacific team in the Australian national country championships, and has played in the tournament every year since.[8]

In 2005, he played for Papua New Guinea at the repêchage tournament for the 2005 ICC Trophy.[8] Papua New Guinea beat Fiji in the final,[11] to qualify for the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland, where Ovia made his List A debut against the Netherlands.[12]

In 2007, Ovia played for Papua New Guinea at Division Three of the World Cricket League in Darwin, Australia.[13] He most recently played for them in the cricket tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games,[8] though he missed Papua New Guinea's record-breaking win[14] over New Caledonia,[8] picking up a second South Pacific Games gold medal.[15]

References

1. Cricinfo profile
2. Cricket Archive profile
3. Teams played for by John Ovia Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine at CricketArchive
4. Hebou Morea at Cricket Archive
5. ICC Trophy matches played by John Ovia at Cricket Archive
6. Scorecard of Italy v Papua New Guinea, 26 March 1997 at Cricket Archive
7. Scorecard of Papua New Guinea v Singapore, 5 April 1997 at Cricket Archive
8. Other matches played by John Ovia Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Papua New Guinea
9. Scorecard of Papua New Guinea v Tonga, 5 June 2002 at Cricket Archive
10. Scorecard of Fiji v Papua New Guinea, 9 August 2003 at SportingPulse
11. Scorecard of Fiji v Papua New Guinea, 27 February 2005
12. List A matches played by John Ovia at Cricket Archive
13. Squads for 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division Three Archived 12 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
14. Papua New Guinea run riot by Andrew Nixon, 1 September 2007 at CricketEurope
15. 2007 South Pacific Games cricket tournament at CricketEurope