Garamuts face Pakistan

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE national men’s Under-19 cricket team will focus on improving their batting as they face former World Cup champions Pakistan in their last pool match at the Queens Park Oval tomorrow (11pm bat-off, PNG time).
Head coach Rodney Maha told The National that despite the team improving their fielding, the Garamuts — who occupy the bottom spot of Group C — would have to lift their game against second-placed Pakistan. “Definitely, Pakistan will be a tough assignment,” the PNG legend said.
“But we will be training hard for them.
“Tuesday saw a huge change in our bowling, but batting had to click.
“We will be planning to play well and create chances.
“It will be a tough task, but we will give our best shot to be competitive.
“For this game, we’ll continue to strengthen bowling and our fielding, so we can play like we played on Tuesday.
“But we have to also be strong mentally.”
Maha said their previous matches saw the opposition deploying spinners and pace bowlers to maximum effect.
“Our players were not patient enough and couldn’t contain the spinners,” he said.
“But they are working hard on hitting gaps and being patient.
“The squad have been told to learn as much as possible and create chances to play well.” Following the end of the pool matches, the top-two teams in each pool will advance to the Super League stage while the bottom sides will compete for the Plate.
The Plate challenge is scheduled for Jan 25-31 in Trinidad and Tobago while the Super League will be hosted in Antigua and Barbuda from Jan 26.
The semifinals will be played from Feb 1-2 followed by the final on Feb 5 at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.