Bau falls short of ton in rep match

PNG Barramundis batsman on scholarship Sese Bau fell agonisingly short of his one-day maiden century in Melbourne district cricket earlier in the month hitting a well-paced 99 against the Mercantile U21 XI.
Playing an invitational match along with fellow Barramundis on scholarship in Melbourne – Rarua Dikana, Mahuru Dai, Kila Pala, Jason Kila, Pipi Raho, Lega Siaka, Hitolo Areni and Loa Nou – opener Bau produced by far the most polished batting performance of the day according to Barramundis captain Dikana.
The Invitational XI scored a comprehensive 216-run win over the the Mercantile side with all batsmen getting a start.
“We batted first on a green deck and our openers Lega and Sese gave us a steady start batting sensibly with a lot of intent to score runs with good running and putting the bad balls away,” Dikana said.
Although several Barramundis got starts, none was able to convert to a three-figure score but the invitational side still posted 289 runs off 45 overs with the loss of just four wickets.
There were a number of entertaining partnerships after the initial opening stand of 63 when Siaka (32) was run out in 13th over after a mix up.
Dai, batting at No.3, came in  and helped the scoring along with Bau contributing 19 runs to a 28 run stand between the pair for the second wicket.
With Dai’s departure big hitting Kila Pala (43) combined with Bau from the 19th to the 30th over adding 71 runs and bringing the Invitational XI 3-162 at that stage.
Bau was joined by skipper Dikana and batted toward his century before falling to an edge behind in the 41st over.
With the score at a healthy 4-242 Dikana (52 no) and new partner Jason Kila (26 no) thrashed 47 runs off the final 24 balls for big total.
Paceman Loa Nou (2-19), Pipi Raho  (0-23) and Hitolo Areni (1-14) were effective against an inexperienced Mercantile side but the day belonged to the  slow bowlers as Dai (3-4) and Kila (3-6) combined to decimate the opposition with their off-spinners.
Dikana, who is also  Cricket PNG’s high performance manager, said he was pleased with the efforts of his players.
He added that he was also satisfied with PNG’s  other scholarship players around Australia but added that everyone would still need to lift to be ready for the Barramundis’ first international assignment.