Barramundis fall short

 In a huge blow to cricket in Papua New Guinea, the PNG Barramundis have once again missed out on qualifying for the ICC World T20 after they went down to Afghanistan by six wickets last Thursday. 

In a winner take all game, it was the last chance for one of the teams to qualify for the 2016 ICC World T20 in India.

PNG’s dream start to the tournament was a distant memory as they lost their last three matches despite needing to win only one to qualify for the 2016 ICC World T20.

PNG Captain Jack Vare won the toss and chose to bat first for the first time in the tournament which backfired horribly. 

Afghanistan’s tight and unrelenting bowling saw PNG stumble to 55/5 with star batters Tony Ura, Lega Siaka and Assad Vala all back in the sheds.

A late resurgence from Charles Amini (37*) and Norman Vanua (22*) helped the Barras post a respectable total of 127, giving their bowlers some chance of restricting Afghanistan’s much vaunted batting line up.

And when Norman Vanua had Mohammad Shahzad caught behind off the first ball of the innings it very much looked like the match could go either way. 

But the cool head of Nawroz Mangal (65*) quickly took the game back away from PNG as he and Asghar Stanikzai put on 57 for the second wicket.

It was Charles Amini’s day with both bat and ball though with his leg spinners almost pulling the momentum back towards PNG and an unlikely victory. 

In the end though, they did nothave enough runs on the board and Afghanistan reached the target in the 19th over with 6 wickets in hand.  

PNG has won many admirers during this tournament with the quality of some of its performances and the attitude of its players. 

Most observers predict we will see PNG at a major ICC tournament before too long.