Lewas through to semis

THE City Pharmacy Papua New Guinea Lewas take on Ireland in the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifiers semifinal today.
The Lewas qualified for the semifinal after beating hosts Netherlands by 44 runs in their pool A match yesterday.
Dutch captain HD Siegers put the Lewas into bat and openers Kopi John and Sibona Jimmy got off to a flyer, scoring 12 runs in the first over, with John hitting a four off the first ball, putting the pressure on Siegers who bowled six extras in her first spell.
That was the only boundary though of the opening partnership, which yielded 32 runs before Jimmy (13) was caught by D Hannema in the 5th over. John was then joined by Brenda Tau in the middle and the pair put on, what turned out to be, a match-winning partnership — scoring at over six an over.
PNG were crusing at 80/1 by the end of 12 overs. Over No.13 proved to be unlucky for the Lewas as John (40) was out first ball, caught by Kalis and captain Pauke Siaka and Tanya Ruma soon followed for ducks, both run out in the space of four balls — PNG at 82/4 in the 13th over. That did not deter Tau, who was joined in the middle by Kaia Arua, and the pair kept plugging away in the middle to get PNG to 117/4 by the 19th over.
The Lewas scored 12 runs in the final over as Arua (20 not out) and and Tau (34) got the total to 129/5.
Tournament favourites Bangladesh had beaten UAE, which meant that only one spot remained in Group A to qualify for the semifinals and if Netherlands was to win in 15.3 overs, that spot would be theirs on net run rate.
The Dutch were not going to go down without a fight. Ten runs came from the opening over, bowled by Mairi Tom.
Ravini Oa came up with an unplayable spell of bowling, picking up the dangerous SL Kalis (6) and skipper Siegers (6) in the space of three balls and the Dutch were reeling at 16/2 in four overs.
Needing a partnership R Rijke and D Hannema provided just that as the pair took the match to PNG, scoring 11 runs in the final over of the powerplay to propel the team to 34/2 after 6 overs.
Lewas captain Siaka brought back veteran Tom into the attack the veteran struck catching Rijke (17) off her own bowling.
Tom dismissed Van Slobbe to keep the Dutch teetering at 63/4.
The Lewas scooped three quick wickets in the next over to get closer to victory to have the hosts reeling at 71/7. PNG 129/5 (K John, 40, B Tau 34, K Arua 20; SNL Siegers 1-21, CC van Slobbe 1-12, Mariska Kornet 1-32) Netherlands 85 (D Hannema 35, R Rijke 17, B de Leede 8; M Tom 4-24, R Oa 2-11, P Siaka 1-9). PNG won by 44 runs.