City Pharmacy PNG Lewas

The morning match between the Lewa Legends and the Lewas CPNG Board XI was an enthralling match with the Legends hanging on for an eight run win.

The Legends won the toss and elected to bat first, opening with Sibona Jimmy and Tanya Frank. They combined for a superb opening partnership of 93 before Jimmy was bowled by Mairi Tom.

Former Hebou PNG Barramundis’ Captain, Dikana was appointed the City Pharmacy PNG Lewas Head Coach at the start of the year and was impressed on how the Lewas played throughout the year.

“There was only one tournament this year and I thought the girls performed exceptionally well by finishing in the top four of the tournament after playing in the semi-final against Ireland who qualified to the world cup as a result. However, we have regrouped following the tournament and have set ourselves some team standards to be successful in the future,” said Dikana.

Coach Rarua Dikana, said it's not quite the result the team wanted and although the girls really wanted to qualify for the World T20, this was the first time they reached the semi-finals in this tournament and that in itself was quite an achievement.

The team’s major losses came against Bangladesh and Ireland - the finalists at the Tournament.

Coach Dikana said while the tournament is over, it is time for reflection and to look forward to future tournaments.

The duo played for the ICC Women’s Global Development Squad (WGDS) in their opening matches against Surrey Stars on Tuesday at New Maiden, Surrey in the United Kingdom.

In the first match, hosts Surrey Stars batted first and made 6/134 off their allotted 20 overs. Oa was the star with the ball for the ICC WGDS, taking an incredible 3/28 off her four overs, while Arua had figures of 0/15 off her two overs.

In reply, ICC WGDS chased down the target in less than 18 overs with Ireland’s Gabby Lewis (50*) and Scotland’s Sarah Bryce (45) leading the way.

The City Pharmacy PNG Lewas had already made history by coming this far and reaching the semifinals of the ICC Women's World T20 Qualifiers (WWT20Q). But defeat to Ireland at that stage set up a 3rd/4th place playoff against Scotland.

After winning the toss, Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce chose to field and chase a total. And the decision paid off as opener Kopi John, the star in the match against Netherlands, was trapped LBW to Scholes in the very first over.

Ireland has gone on to win by 27 runs and qualify for the World T20 in West Indies, which will be hosted later this year.

With Pauke Siaka unavailable, Kaia Arua led the side and chose to bowl first at the Irish on a sunny day in Amstelveen.

Mairi Tom, fresh from her Player of the Match performance, was trusted with the new ball and boy did she deliver - picking the wicket of Clare Shillington - the highest scorer of the tournament - on the second ball of the match.

Having qualified for the semi-final of the ICC WWT20 Qualifier in the Netherlands by finishing second in Pool A behind Bangladesh, the City Pharmacy PNG Lewas go into their semi-final clash against Ireland, knowing a victory will not only mean that they make the final of this prestigious event, but also qualify for the ICC WWT20 in the West Indies in November this year.

This is the closest the Lewas have ever come to the World T20.

Going into the toss, there were various permutations and combinations that could have seen any of the four teams in Group A go through thanks to the Net Run Rate as Bangladesh took on UAE in the other game.

Dutch Captain HD Siegers won the toss and immediately put the Lewas into bat and openers Kopi John and Sibona Jimmy got off to a flyer, scoring 12 runs in the first over, with John smashing a four off the very first ball, putting the pressure on Siegers who bowled 6 extras subsequently in her first over.

The Lewas yesterday secured a 2 wicket victory on the penultimate ball of the match.

The day started with UAE captain Humaria Tasneem making a generous gesture on behalf of UAE Cricket and giving Pauke Siaka a UAE cap at the toss, before choosing to bat first against the City Pharmacy PNG Lewas.

UAE made a steady, if not spectacular start with openers ER Oza and Chaya Mughal seeing out the powerplay without losing their wickets and reaching 21/0 after 6 overs.

At the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen (in Amsterdam), Bangladesh Captain Salma Khatun won the toss and elected to bowl first.

The decision of the Bangladesh captain paid off as early as the 1st ball of the second over as Sibona Jimmy fell for just 1 run.

She was joined by Brenda Tau an over later, for the same score and the City Pharmacy PNG Lewas were in trouble from the start at 2-2.

Wickets continued to tumble, and a slow run rate left PNG in search of inspiration at 45/5 after 15 overs.