2017 Commonwealth Bank Australian Country Cricket Championships

In the final of the Championships, the EAP women cruised to an eight wicket victory over Victoria Country in a T20 encounter at University No 1 Oval.

The win gave EAP back-to-back titles.

The women’s EAP squad is dominated by PNG players with eight in the side- Helen Buruka, Sibona Lucy Jimmy, Ravini Oa, Kopi John, Konio Oala, Tanya Ruma, Pauke Siaka (c) and Veru Kila Frank.

The other players are from Japan, Samoa and Vanuatu.

In the men’s, Queensland Country are the men’s champions after beating South Australia Country by six wickets in the One Day final.

Victoria won the toss and batted first finishing at 7/268 after the full over 50 overs. Michael Allen (88), Cameron Taylor (48) and Jake Best (42) were the major contributors for their side.

In their run chase, EAP struggled to get any solid partnerships going and were all bowled out for 147 after 38.2 overs. Jason Kila (37) top scored for EAP.

Tom Mathieson (3/16) and Ben Boyd (3/30) did the damage for Victoria taking three wickets each to seal an easy win with a bonus point.

Switching back to the 50 over format of the game, Western Australia batted first and set a target of 209 for victory after batting out the innings.

This was thanks to Julian Crudeli’s unbeaten knock of 62 runs.

With the ball, Crudeli destroyed the EAP batting attack taking three wickets to help bowl out EAP for 115.

Alei Nao from PNG was outstanding for EAP finishing with 32 runs and bowling figures of 4-24.

In the women’s matches yesterday, EAP has an easy eight-wicket win over Western Australia Country.

Photo credit: Cricket Illawarra Facebook Page