Cricketers show class

 PAPUA New Guinea has won the inaugural Asia-Pacific Rising Stars Trophy after defeating a gallant East Asia-Pacific (EAP) side in the final. 

In a tight finish, PNG chased down EAP’s 137 with just seven balls and three wickets to spare. 

EAP captain Andrew Mansale and PNG fast-bowler Andrew Hicks were named joint Players of the Tournament. 

Mansale was named Player of the Final for his superb knock of 50.

PNG captain Chris Amini was delighted with how his team came through with the win. “I am very happy to win the tournament. The final was a lot closer than we’d hoped for, but we have come away with a gritty win,” he said.

“I really stressed to my boys today that every time you put on the red, yellow and black colours (of PNG), it is an honour.

“We weren’t quite good enough yesterday (in the loss to EAP), so it’s a credit to the boys on how they improved.

“These past 12 months we have been working on getting a winning culture in PNG cricket, especially with the South Australian Premier League and World T20 Qualifiers coming up.”

Mansale was disappointed with the result but was pleased with how his side had improved during the tournament.

“We almost got the win today in the final. It really could have gone either way in the end,” he said. 

Batting first, EAP were in early trouble at 2/13, with their leading run-scorers for the tournament, Lega Siaka (2) and CJ Amini (5), both dismissed by PNG medium-pacer John Boge Reva. 

Mansale (50 off 53 and Trevor Langa (20 off 30) then combined for an important 45-run partnership to steady the ship for EAP.

Langa became Boge Reva’s third victim and new batsman Riley Hekure departed for 1 soon afterwards, leaving the score at 4/64 in the 12th over. 

PNG’s chase got off to a flying start; they were 2/65 after six overs after some big-hitting by Assad Vala (18 from 14) and Tony Ura (40 off 19). Chris Kent, with help from wicketkeeper Jack Vare (13 off 11), took control of the PNG innings and guided his team home.