Garamuts off to eighth U19 Cricket World Cup

The National Sports

THE Papua New Guinea Garamuts qualified for their eighth ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup and remain unbeaten at the East Asia Pacific regional qualifiers in Samoa.
Needing the win to secure their position to New Zealand next year, the next crop of PNG stars pulled together another strong team performance to beat Samoa by eight wickets on Monday.
The win and automatic qualification were made even sweeter after PNG failed to qualify for the previous edition when they lost to Fiji in qualification.
Samoa (89 all out) were looking to get their second win of the tournament but found themselves up against a team in great form and with a clear goal and they were no match for the Garamuts.
PNG may well have been chasing a smaller total if they had not given Samoa 35 extras in a total of 89. Medium pacer and player-of-the-match Leke Morea (3-10) was unplayable with the ball while Ovia Sam (3-24) also chipped in with three wickets.
PNG’s opening batters then set about knocking the total off in short time with a 72-run opening stand between Simon Atai (35) and Igo Mahuru (31 not out).
In the day’s other game, Fiji (156) bounced back from their previous losses to produce a much-improved performance, beating Vanuatu (83) by 73 runs.
Fiji went into the final day’s play sitting below Vanuatu on net run rate and needing a big win over Samoa to finish in second place.
For Fiji coach Josefa Rika, a final win “would be a big morale booster for the side.”
Fiji won the previous East Asia-Pacific Qualifier but suffered a shock loss to Samoa earlier in the tournament, giving the Samoans their first ever victory at U19 international level. The last day’s play in Apiayesterday saw home side Samoa stun Fiji winning by 23 runs. The PNG-Vanuatu games was washedout while PNG will be looking for a tournament clean sweep when they play Vanuatu.
Summary Scores:
Samoa 89 (Morea 3-10, Sam 3-24) PNG 90/2 (Atai 35, Mahuru 31 not out). PNG won by 8 wickets.
Fiji 156 (Marika 33, Yabaki 31, Cabebula 28; Sandy 3-35, Nalisa 3-47) Vanuatu 83 (Moli 22, Charters 4-024 (8.2), Waqakibau 3/14 (6). Fiji won by 73 runs.
Standings:             Team    P      W    L   Pts  NRR
PNG        5      5    0    8     2.814
Vanuatu   5      2    3    4    -0.264
Fiji           5      2    3    4    -0.620
Samoa     5      1    4     2   -2.113