THE Papua New Guinea Under 19 team have to play smart in order to book a super league final quarter final spot when they face West Indies at the Selnagor Turf Club today.
Tomorrow, PNG will play South Africa at the Kinrara Turf Club and a possibility of rewriting history is on the minds of each of the individual players and they know that today’s match will be treated as a do-or-die match.
Only the top teams from each pool will play in the super league quarter finals beginning on Sunday, Feb 24, while the bottom two teams from each pool play in the plate finals on Saturday, March 1.
India and South Africa have won each of thier matches over PNG and West Indies respectively and are on two points each in their pool (B).
Last Sunday India sent an early warning sign to tournament favourites Australia and Pakistan that they were a tough side to beat when hammering PNG by 195 runs at the Kinrara Cricket Academy.
South Africa also opened its U19 world cup campaign on a good note on Monday at KCA when the Proteas defeated West Indies by three wickets after the West Indies put on a huge target of 222.
PNG coach Gavera Rarua realistically knows that his side will have to play smart to beat West Indies today at the Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur city and South Africa the following day at the Kinara Cricket Academy.
Rarua said in a pre-match interview that his side have learnt from their mistakes against India and would be determined to bounce back and give West Indies side a good run for their money today at STC.
“Our fielding was exceptionally good against the Indians on Sunday and everyone who watched the game agreed that we gave our opposition a hard time and had them on the back foot a couple of times,” Rarua said.
“It was only our bowling and batting that we are really working hard on to improve but I have belief and faith in my boys - that they can do it, it’s just a matter of getting out there on the field and lasting the full 50 overs,” he said.
He is placing emphasis on his fast bowlers Jacob Mado and Loa Nou to step up in today’s match and bowl their best balls.
Jacob particularly was tired because he had his first wicket denied at the fourth over against India last Sunday when the third umpire denied a catch by Tony Ura at second slip, he said.
“I thought that should have been the turning point in the game if the third umpire had ruled that Tony (Ura) caught the ball.”
“For Loa he struggled in his four overs against India and was tired very quickly after going wicket-less but I have encouraged them to be patient and bowl every ball as their best one.
“In batting, our opening batsman Heni (Siaka) was not stable at his crease and showed no footwork so I really need my strong batsman this time to stay long out there.”
Rarua said that Alfred Amini on the other hand showed some resistance in batting when he scored 26; he played according to the instructions.