The PNG Barramundis hopes for a maiden appearance at the ICC World Twenty20 next year in India are still high despite going down to the United States of America yesterday by 18 runs.
The Barramundis finished in fourth place for pool A and must now win all games in order to get one of the four remaining qualification spots for India. Ireland and Scotland took the two automatic qualifying positions by virtue of finishing top of their pools.
The PNG Barramundis will face winner of Afghanistan and Hong Kong on Thursday 23rd July at 7pm PNG time, with the match to be shown live on Digicel Play and TVWAN Sports HD.
PNG, Namibia and Hong Kong, along with Ireland, are through to the next stage of the tournament.
PNG Barramundis captain Jack Vare-Kevere said “It wasn't the start we wanted with the ball, but 150 was a gettable target. It was a poor batting performance. We expected USA would come hard at us and we wanted to control what we control. We didn't get the result we wanted but we're still in this competition. We wanted to build partnerships but they didn't come.
“It's T20 cricket and anything can happen. We wanted to focus on this game and ignore other results. We've got a couple of days to get some good rest and look at how we can improve. Hopefully the boys will stay positive and concentrate on our basics."
Match Summary
At Malahide: USA 147-6, 20 overs (Nicholas Standford 38 not out, Akeem Dodson 38, Fahad Babar 30; Charles Amini 2-20)
PNG 129-9, 20 overs (Sese Bau 26; Muhammad Ghous 2-27, Timil Patel 2-32)
USA won by 18 runs
Current Group A Standing
|
Pool A |
Pts |
|
Ireland |
8 |
|
Hong Kong |
7 |
|
Namibia |
7 |
|
Papua New Guinea |
7 |
|
Jersey |
6 |
|
USA |
4 |
|
Nepal |
3 |
Tuesday 21st July
1900 Hong Kong vs Afghanistan @ The Village, Dublin (Playoff 1)
2315 Namibia vs Netherlands @ The Village, Dublin (Playoff 2)
Thursday, 23 July –PNG v winner of Playoff 1, Malahide, Dublin (07:00 PM*)
(*PNG local time)