Barras lose to Oman

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE Papua New Guinea Barramundis are aiming for a comeback after losing their one-day-international series opener to hosts Oman by four wickets on Sunday at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground.
In their batting inning, the Barramundis posted 184/10 after 47.5 overs and went on to field but Oman proved better, surpassing the target with four wickets to spare claiming the first of the two-match ODI series.
Head coach Tatenda Taibu said their starting was not pleasing as they lost four early wickets after posting 31 runs which was not ideal, but the lower batting order led by skipper Assad Vala showed fighting spirit.
“We didn’t start as well as we would have loved, we were 31 for four wickets, it was a difficult position to have a good fight out from starting position but the boys fought hard,” said Taibu.
“Fighting back in any situation is one of the things that we have constantly talked about and they showed us today (Sunday) with some good partnerships at the bottom with our skipper Assad and Kipling (Doriga) together with Sema Kamea as well as a bowler.”
Doriga recorded the highest run in the match, scoring 67 runs off 68 balls while Vala added 47 (off 89) with 26 (52) from Hiri Hiri to add to their total.
In their fielding inning, Kabua Vagi Morea took out two wickets from 27 runs in seven overs with help from Sema Kamea (1/40), John Kariko (1/38) and Jack Gardner (1/43). Taibu said he was not happy with some of the calls the umpire made in their match. “Some decision was really terrible from one umpire and I think it contributed us to be in the position that we found ourselves in,” he said recently.
“However 184 was not a par score for us, probably 220 or 230 would have been a par score, but the guys fought well on the field with the wickets, taking out regular wickets.
“But I think if we had taken a couple of runouts that we have missed and a couple of tough catches we missed, I think we could have potentially won the game.