Garamuts face Scots

THEY may have lost both their warm-up matches but the Papua New Guinea Under-19s have a cricket tradition to uphold.
The Garamuts have qualified for the last three World Cups in Australia and New Zealand and the tournaments have been crucial in helping Cricket PNG identifying the next batch of Barramundis.
Tony Ura, Jason Kila, Lega Siaka, Raymond Haoda Jr, Sese Bau, Norman Vanua, Chris Kent and Charles Amini Jr are some of the PNG stars that have come through the furnace of a U19 World Cup and gone on to feature in the national senior squad.
The latest batch of U19s now in Dubai for the tournament will be looking to be competitive in every match starting with tomorrow’s opening match against Scotland.
Captain Dogodo Bau has the task of motivating his players particularly in the batting stakes as the two warm-up loses to Bangladesh and Canada was due to the side’s inability to compete with the bat.
Bowlers Kabua Vagi Morea and Riley Hekure will be expected to keep the heat on opposition batsmen but its the Garamuts batting that must lift if they are to trouble the other teams in Pool A .
The Hebou-sponsored side slumped to their second warm-up match loss to Canada yesterday.
Canada posted 231 for the loss of nine wickets with Canadian captain, Nitish Kumar top scoring with 82 off 68 balls.
PNG’s Nosaina Pokana was the chief destroyer for the Garamuts claiming 4-30.
The run chase started disastrously as they slumped to be struggling at 75/7.
Tom Willie and Allen Joseph fought through the middle over’s to take the Garamuts to a respectable 159/9.
Willie top scored with an unbeaten 45 with Allen Joseph contributing 29 and skipper Bau 23.
Canada closed down the match with some tight bowling to register a 72-run victory.
Fixtures: Sat, Feb 15 – PNG vs Scotland; Mon, Feb 17 – PNG vs Pakistan; Wed, Feb 19 – PNG vs India