Should ability to deflect pressure be the key ingredient to winning this week's Pacifica Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, then Papua-New Guinea can clear the mantle place for the trophy.

Before the squad had even left the country, the majority of the PNG team had endured the threat of censure from its provincial association for merely taking part.

Caught in the middle of an internal wrangle between a Port Moresby Cricket Association disenchanted with the national body, the Papua-New Guinea Cricket Board of Control, Port Moresby-based players were warned not to represent PNG at the inaugural South Pacific championship.

The PMCA only relented the day prior to the team's departure.

National team captain, Navu Maha, ironically the son of embattled PNGCBC chairman, Veari Maha, expressed gratitude for his team's opportunity to play in the tournament.

"It is the best thing the International Cricket Council has done cricket in the South Pacific. I am grateful to be able to come here," Maha said, speaking from Auckland on Saturday.

"We really need to play in more tournaments of this kind to become stronger."

He said the fact all but two of the squad were from Port Moresby was an obvious bonus.

"We know each other's play having played against each other many times, even if we haven't played as a team together."

Amini cited batsmen John Ovia and Daniel Faunt as keys while Toka Gaudi and leg-spinner Ross Vaei were also expected to stand out for PNG.

Meanwhile, Tonga is going into the Pacifica Cup full of confidence, boosted by the experience gained from tours to Australia the past two years.

"It taught us the value of concentration," Tonga's 29-year-old captain, Selu Salema Vite said.

Indeed, one advantage the Tongans hold over most of the teams at the tournament will be practice in batting out their 50 overs, knowledge gleaned from the tours to Sydney and Geelong.

Vite, an all-rounder who opens the batting and bowls left arm fast medium as first change, is one of the veterans of the Tongan squad, making his international debut at the 1991 South Pacific Games.

While Vite was confident Tonga could dispose of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, he was more wary of Fiji.

"We have to be careful of them - although I have played against their players in the Crompton Cup."

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd