The Papua New Guinean import needs a few seconds to think about what a Twenty20 World Cup appearance will mean to the small island nation.

So his national team captain Assad Vala jumps in to translate the answers so Doriga can feel more at ease as he speaks in his native tongue.

"It's a very special moment for me and the team. It's the first time we have ever qualified," Doriga said.

"The reception we got when we went home, there was a big crowd at the airport and we got a really good reception.

"It meant a lot to the boys, what the team had achieved."

But this pair will have to wait until next year to reap the rewards of their World Cup qualification.

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For the remainder of the summer they will shelve their PNG uniforms for a North Canberra-Gungahlin cap.

Now they are set to play a key role in a Cricket ACT Douglas Cup clash against Tuggeranong Valley at Chisholm Oval beginning on Saturday.

But two-day cricket is a little foreign to this duo.

"We only play Twenty20 cricket back home," Vala said.

Why is that, you might ask? Already zoning in on the World Cup? Not quite.

"We only have one ground and we have eight teams there. We only play Twenty20s on the weekend, four teams play on Saturday and four teams play on Sunday," Vala said.

"We don't play a lot of longer format, so we struggle a bit in the one-dayers. To come and play the longer format, it allows us to bat for longer periods.

"Twenty20 suits the boys because we play a lot of it, but this is a really good opportunity to play cricket here and learn some new stuff."

Doriga is no stranger to cricket in Canberra - he spent a summer with Ginninderra three years ago and switched to Norths after club officials reached out about luring the pair to the capital.

The timing was perfect - "it's the off-season back home" - so they can come over and get themselves more acquainted with playing in Australia before October's World Cup.

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Playing on that stage against the best on the globe will have 32-year-old Vala far removed from the early days when all his side had was a team kit with equipment to share.

"It's really big, a special moment for everyone," Vala said.

"All of the boys that play in the national team are just from local cricket, everyone plays in Port Moresby. Nobody plays around the world, there is just club cricket.

"What got us through was the togetherness. Through good times and bad times, we stuck together.

"When the going got tough, we stuck together and backed ourselves. We didn't want to let any of our teammates together because we are together all the time.

"We wanted it more than anyone wanted it."

Vala opened his stint at Norths with 19 runs and two wickets in a 23-run loss at the hands of Ginninderra in their Twenty20 Cup opener on Thursday night.

Doriga added 13 runs in the opening round loss, with Norths looking to break their Twenty20 duck against Western District at Keith Tournier Memorial Oval next Thursday.

Wests opened their Twenty20 campaign with a 27-run win over Queanbeyan, Weston Creek Molonglo accounted for Eastlake and Tuggeranong toppled ANU.

CRICKET ACT DOUGLAS CUP ROUND NINE

Saturday: Day one - Tuggeranong Valley v North Canberra-Gungahlin at Chisholm Oval, Western District v Eastlake at Jamison Oval, ANU v Queanbeyan at ANU North Oval, Weston Creek Molonglo v Ginninderra at Stirling Oval. All games at 11am.