PNG tops Pacific Women’s T20 comp

Vanuatu T20 squad. File photo

At the conclusion of the Pacific Women’s T20 Cricket competition yesterday, the undefeated Papua New Guinea team finished in top spot followed by hosts Vanuatu.

Samoa finished in third place and Fiji in fourth.

The last round of games was washed out by heavy rain.

In the final two games PNG played Vanuatu whilst Samoa took on Fiji.

PNG batted first, with the Lewas on fire from the start, as Tanya Ruma, Naoni Vare and Brenda Tau hit 48, 35 and 30 runs respectively.

The Vanuatu fielders covered the field well and managed to slow the run rate of the girls in pink and black. Rachel Andrew, Selina Solman and Naiss Navaika each managed to get a PNG player out.

However, in the 18th over the rain started to pour down and the umpire stopped the game.

Similarly, the game between Fiji and Samoa was also stopped by their umpire in the 17th over with Samoa at 127 runs with three players out.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vanuatu Cricket Association, Tim Cutler explained that in cases where there is too much rain, the match is abandoned and is counted as a draw, therefore all four teams earned a draw for their games.

Earlier on in the day, Vanuatu beat Fiji by 150/6 (20 overs) — 86/9 (20 overs).

Valenta Langiatu and Selina Solman scored most of the runs for the home side, both hitting 55 and 50 runs respectively while Karaloni Vakurivalu dismissed two of the six Vanuatu players.

On the Fijian side, Ilisapeci Vulisere and Karaloni Vakuruivalu scored the most runs for the girls in blue with 20 and 18 runs respectively, while Naisima Navaika dismissed three of the nine Fijians who were dismissed in the innings.

In the PNG vs Samoa game, Samoa was all taken out in the 16th over and PNG reached the 50 runs target set by the Samoans in the fourth over, with Naoni Vare and Sibona Jimmy getting 25 and 17 runs respectively. The other runs came from wide balls from the Samoan bowlers.