ICC World Cricket League East Asia-Pacific Region Division One Twenty20 – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Papua-New-Guinea-c41002 – Journey to victory - Part 3
Papua New Guinea won all their pool games against, Vanuatu, Samoa, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cricket League East Asia-Pacific Region Division One Twenty20.
The hosts had to face Samoa in the semi-final, at the Amini Park, Port Moresby on Wednesday, July 6. They continued their dominance in the tournament and outclassed the opposition by a massive margin of 144 runs.
PNG collected 234 runs for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs. This was the highest score of the event and the highlight of the match was once again the terrific opening partnership between openers, Asad Vala and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tony-Pala-Ura-c94235.
PNG’s captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rarva-Dikana-c84041, won the toss for the fifth consecutive time in the tournament. He was not only lucky with the toss, but also with winning the matches, as the team crushed Samoa by a massive margin.
The pitch was good for the batsmen and the hosts took full advantage of the conditions.
Vala and Ura put together 186 runs for the first wicket partnership, taking the game away from the opposition. The latter completed his first ton of the tournament and ended up with 102 runs off 53 deliveries with the help of 11 fours and four massive sixes.
Vala missed-out in his second century of the event, as he got dismissed for 92 runs from 50 balls. He struck nine fours and two thunderous sixes. Although he would have been disappointed not to reach a ton, the team would have been extremely happy with his
sensational performance.
The lower-order of PNG was not tested much throughout the tournament, as most of the runs were scored by the openers. Same was the case in the semi-final game against Samoa. The team reached 234 runs, courtesy exceptional performances by their top-order.
Faasao Mulivai picked up three wickets for Samoa in the match, but his effort went in vain in the end, as the team’s batsmen failed miserably.
The visitors were all-out for 90 in their allotted 20 overs, as none of their batsmen managed to post a challenge for the opposition. Sean Cotter was the only batsman, who looked good, scoring 24 runs for his team, but the rest were unable to impress.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Christopher-Ralai-Amini-c50975 didn’t have much success with the bat for PNG, but he enjoyed bowling against Samoa in the semi-final, picking up three wickets in the match, guiding his side to the final of the event.
Final match
The final of the tournament was played between the hosts and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vanuatu-c3038. PNG had defeated them earlier in the pool match and it was an opportunity for the visitors to gain revenge, at the Amini Park.
However, the dominance of the hosts remained as it was in the remainder of the event. PNG won the final by 58 runs.
The team won all tosses in their six games and also went onto win the games. They scored 195 for the loss of five wickets in the final and once again the main contributors were the openers.
They collected 56 runs for the first wicket partnership in the all important game and Ura was the top scorer with 48 runs. There were also some solid contributions from the middle-order, which guided the total closer to 200.
In reply, Vanuatu only managed 137 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 20 overs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Patrick-Kaltaneaki-Matautaava-c80908 top scored with 36 runs, but it was not enough for the team to win the game.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Joel-Tom-c67155 took three wickets in the final ensuring success for the hosts.
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