Garamuts defeat Samoa

The PNG Garamuts notched up their second win of the U19 World Cup Qualifiers being played in Sano, Japan, by beating Samoa by four wickets.

Samoan captain Lester Evile won the toss and elected to bat, where they got off to a solid start with a first wicket partnership of 29 but lost wickets regularly from there on in to finish on 109 in the 39th over. Top score with 30 was the Samoan number eight Paul Rarotoga.

Coach Kila Pala was happy with the bowling and fielding effort, saying “we bowled well and apart from a couple of missed chances, we fielded well, we are happy to be chasing 110”.

The Garamuts lost two early wickets but then Hila Vare and Mavara Hekure settled in and had the scoreboard ticking over nicely, Hekure top scoring again with 40 runs before being bowled trying to finish the game quickly.

The Garamuts passed the total six wickets down in the 21st over and are now two from two heading into tomorrow’s game against Vanuatu.

Pala in summing up the game said: “We are obviously happy to get the win, a little disappointed with losing wickets so close to the total but the boys will learn from that, we look forward to tomorrow’s challenge now against Vanuatu.

“The boys are going well we just need to work on improving little things to ensure the success continues throughout the tournament.”

The tournament is a round robin format with the Garamuts needing to finish on top after the four rounds to earn a place in the U19 World Cup in South Africa early next year.

(Eisa Eka, player of the match)

Author: 
Press release