team opened up in 1996 when they participated in the first ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. They reached the semi-final, where they lost to Bangladesh. They played in the tournament again in 1998, but left the tournament early. They have not played in the tournament since due to the establishment of the ICC's East Asia/Pacific development region. In-between the two ACC Trophy tournaments, Papua New Guinea finished 13th in the 1997 ICC Trophy. They failed to progress beyond the first round of the 2001 tournament in Ontario. They finished third in the 2001 Pacifica Cup and won the same event in 2002, beating Tonga in the final. They again won the gold medal at cricket tournament of the 2003 South Pacific Games, and in 2005 played in the repêchage tournament of the 2005 ICC Trophy. They won the tournament after beating regional rivals Fiji in the final. This qualified them for the 2005 ICC Trophy, where they finished 11th. In 2007, Papua New Guinea played in Division Three of the World Cricket League in Darwin where they finished third. They played in the cricket tournament of the 2007 South Pacific Games, where they again won the gold medal. In late January 2009, Papua New Guinea travelled to Buenos Aires to take part in Division Three of the World Cricket League where they played Argentina, the Cayman Islands, Uganda and the top two teams from Division Four in 2008. A top two finish in this tournament would have qualified them for the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier in South Africa later in 2009, from which they could have qualified for the 2011 World Cup. Papua New Guinea narrowly missed qualification, ending up in third place behind Afghanistan and Uganda. It was third time lucky for Papua New Guinea when they contested Division Three of the World Cricket League in January 2011. Winning their first 4 matches of the tournament, they had assured themselves a top two finish, before losing the final round robin match and then the final, both against Hong Kong. In April 2011, Papua New Guinea took part in Division Two of the World Cricket League, held in the United Arab Emirates and came third, thus qualifying for the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. In February 2013, Papua New Guinea travelled to Auckland, New Zealand, for the EAP Championship and went through the group stages unbeaten