Inaugural Women’s PacificAus Invitational 2025: first-of-its-kind T20 event

Women’s PacificAus Invitational 2025: A T20 Tournament Like No Other
The Women’s PacificAus Invitational T20 tournament made history in June 2025 by uniting emerging cricketing nations from the Pacific region and Australia for a week of elite competition. The tournament took place at Amini Park in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, across June 15 to 21, which is an important step forward for Women’s cricket across Oceania and Australasia by providing pathways for players while celebrating sporting and cultural connections.
A New Tournament – a Partnership and an Idea
Built with the support of the Australian Government’s PacificAus Sports program and in conjunction with Cricket Papua New Guinea (PNG), Cricket Australia, and local cricket boards, the 2025 Women’s PacificAus Invitational the players, coaches and officials from the pacific to create opportunities. With the backdrop of Papua New Guinea’s 50th anniversary of independence, the event is underpinned with a layer of national significance and celebration.
Format: Quick and Fierce Competition
The tournament structure featured four teams and a double round-robin format:
- Hosts Papua New Guinea Lewas
- Australian Indigenous Women’s XI
- Vanuatu
- Samoa
Each team played six matches in their league stage, which all took place at Amini Park, Port Moresby. The champion was the team finishing on top of the Lady’s standings after the round-robin process and net run rate was used as a tiebreaker for equal points.
Why it is Important – A Growing Pathway
This T20 isn’t about just winning a trophy.It is a brave statement for the female advancement of sports in the region, changing the narrative and developing Pacific athletes with invaluable exposure on an international level. The inclusion of the Australian Indigenous Women’s team is another signal of the tournament’s drive for inclusion for all societies, acknowledgement of First Nations talent and appreciation of both Australia’s and its Pacific neighbours unique connections through the game’s long history in both regions.
Regional leaders praised the tournament for developing “elite level pathways for women and girls” , a particularly important point as all engaged Pacific nations prepare for major ICC qualification events and future global events. Engagement with local communities was apparent as was the cultural exchange throughout the week, strengthening the capacity of sport to unite and inspire.
The Action: Battling On-field and Off-field
Papua New Guinea Lewas probably were the most consistent performer, winning four and finishing first based on net run rate and taking the accolade of champions in the first organized tournament of this kind.
The Australian Indigenous Women’s XI brought incurably, flair, experience and professionalism, with players such as Ella Hayward and Mikayla Hinkley (both playing regularly in the WBBL) being noticeable stars.
Vanuatu and Samoa have shown a sizeable step forward, primarily through their stocks of exciting players like Rachel Andrew (Vanuatu captain) and emerging youth players from Samoa, particularly who inspired and learnt so much through the week.Great moments included PNG’s nervous two-wicket chase against Australia Indigenous, Vanuatu’s run chases and Samoa’s fighting efforts—all of which declare to the world that standards are improving and the Pacific will have significant representation at ICC events for some time to come.
Reaching Milestones and Impacts
Advancing Women’s Cricket: Never, previously, has a women’s international event of this kind been played in PNG; these were the first-ever Women’s T20I matches played on Papua New Guinean soil.
Building a Legacy: PNG’s Lewas continued playing their part in the international pictures we now see after this win and they sent a message to the you-have-enough-feel-competent players at the TCR that the Pacific are ready to take on the best in the world with months of time but better preparation.
Pathways and Professionalism: The assistance of coaches such as Tim Nielsen from Australia (and current high performance manager of PNG) and the experience of mentors on other benches poses a huge assistance to the developing squads and lifted the professionalism of some.
Looking to the Future: A Model for the Future
For the Pacific women’s teams preparing for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific qualifier, the Women’s says PacificAus Invitational should be a best practice model to consider for year on year high-performance tournaments. The Australian, Samoan and Vanuatu teams – with their individual stories – left gaining valuable match practice, new cricketing friends, and a feeling of belonging to a larger world.
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