HEBOU PNG Barramundis

Starting the day at 7/285, Chad Soper (60) and Norman Vanua (64) frustrated the Scotland bowling attacking, putting on 93 runs for the eighth wicket, before Soper was caught behind off the bowling of Chris Sole.

In his first match for the Barras, Damien Ravu continued on where Soper left off, making a valuable 32 runs.

Ravu and Nosiana Pokana took the total beyond 400, before Ravu was bowled to bring the Barras’ innings to an end at for 404 at lunch.

Opening batsmen Vani Vagi Morea and Tony Ura got the innings off to a rapid start, racing to 27 runs in less than five overs before Ura was dismissed by Safyaan Sharif.

Lega Siaka (48) then joined Morea to put on a 51-run partnership for the second wicket.

The Barras found themselves in trouble two balls later when captain Assad Vala was sent back to the sheds, leaving the Barras at 3/78.

Siaka and Sese Bau then steadied the ship before Siaka fell two runs shot of his half century, with Sharif taking all four wickets at the top order.

The four day match (October 1-October 4) will be played at the recently ICC accredited venue- Amini Park, Port Moresby.

Heading into the match, the Barras are sitting in fourth place on 40 points, while Scotland are in sixth place on 37 points, having yet to register a win.

Intercontinental Cup Standings:

Ireland (89), Afghanistan (81), Netherlands (52), PNG (40), Hong Kong (39), Scotland (37), United Arab Emirates (27), Namibia (27). 

Play will commence at Amini Park at 10am each day.

(File picture)

The Barras returned to the country after the month-long tour where they played a total of twelve matches – four wins, one draw and seven losses.  

“I was incredibly pleased with the tour. The tour challenged the players with the quality of opposition and the different situations we found ourselves in.

“Our goal for the tour was adaptability, think for yourself (be proactive), learn from everything and progression, not perfection.

The Barramundis boys thumped the Northern Mavericks by eight (8) wickets in the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) Premier League in Darwin, Australia yesterday.

The Northern Mavericks batted first and posted an impressive 8/256 off their allotted 50 overs.

Sam Miller was the star with the bat for the Mavericks, smashing 130 runs off just 136 balls, while Nick Benton (49) and Ben Turley (37) made valuable contributions in the middle order.

Southern Force batted first and finished at 6/295.

Ben Bullimore smashed an unbeaten 107 runs off just 88 balls for the Force.

Bullimore was ably supported by Brad Davis (83) while Nosiana Pokana (2/63) and Norman Vanua (2/68) were the wicket-takers for the Barras.

 In reply, the Barras got off to a steady start with Tony Ura (23) and Lega Siaka (30) taking the score to 3/79.

Captain, Assad Vala (57) and Sese Bau (75) put a century partnership for fourth wicket, shifting the momentum in the favour of the Barras.

The 14-man squad will once again be led by Assad Vala with former Australian Test cricketer, Jason Gillespie being in charge of his first ICC sanctioned event as Cricket PNG’s consultant coach.

The squad is made up of 12 players from the Port Moresby Cricket Association, Chad Soper who is currently based in Australia and for the first time, Damien Ravu from the Lae Cricket Association.

The ICC and WCLC fixtures will be played at Amini Park in Port Moresby from October 1-8.

CPNG’s chairman of Selectors, Daniel Faunt, was excited with the announcement of the squad.

The Barras fell short by 32 runs in their opening match to Eastern Edge last Saturday, but bounced back the next day to edge out Western Grit by three wickets.

“Bowling was decent. The lads had plans that they implemented well and the fielding was quite good although we identified that our boundary fielding could have had more urgency.

“All tour we have spoken about big partnerships and someone getting a big score. Mahuru Dai was brilliant and was well supported,” said Gillespie.  

This was thanks largely to a century from Barras’ veteran all-rounder, Mahuru Dai, with his knock of 126 off 76 balls.

In a reduced 30 over match, Western Grit batted first and smashed their way to finish at 4/260. Callum Ferguson led the way for his side, hitting 91 runs.

Nosiana Pokana (2/47), Mahuru Dai (1/43) and Norman Vanua (1/48) were the only wicket takers for the Barras.

The Barras got off to a disastrous start, slumping to 4/52 inside the first eight overs.

It came from their defeat over Northern Territory Strike by an innings in the 2-Day encounter in Darwin.

Resuming play at 1/3 on the final day, NT Strike got off to a steady start with Ben Wakim (17) and Jacob Dickman (13) taking the score to 41 before Dickman was stumped off the bowling of Lega Siaka.

The Barras then took control of the match, reducing NT Strike to 7/76.

Jacob Dick (30) and Matt Hammond (26) tried to steady the ship but the Barras were able to finish the job to leave NT Strike all out for 140 in 51.4 overs.