Papua New Guinea Suspends 10 Under-19 Players Because They Were Shoplifting During Match Hours!

Ten members of Papua New Guinea¡¯s Under-19 team have been suspended one year after shoplifting while playing in the the U-19 Cricket World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifiers in Japan.

A statement from the ICC on said they would also be banned from domestic cricket for the rest of 2019.

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Papua New Guinea were the favourites to qualify but because of the suspensions were unable to field a team against Japan, meaning the hosts went through to next year¡¯s ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa by default.

¡°On behalf of Cricket PNG I would like to offer our full and sincere apologies to the ICC, Japan Cricket Association and all of the other teams playing in the event,¡± Cricket PNG Chief Executive Greg Campbell said.

¡°The behaviour of our players is not what we would expect from international cricketers of any age.

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Campbell was quoted by local media as saying the players had been caught ¡°doing some stealing¡±.

¡°It¡¯s not as bad as people said but our point of view, my point of view and the board¡¯s point of view is it doesn¡¯t matter whether it¡¯s one item or 10 items - it¡¯s the same crime,¡± Campbell was quoted on Radio New Zealand¡¯s website as saying.

¡°They¡¯ve got no charges laid against them - everything has been cleared. We got all the items back, we paid for them at the shops they were taken (from) and donated that to charity, is what I can gather from our team manager. The shopkeeper didn¡¯t press any further and they left the country so they have no charges against them whatsoever.¡±