Mixed bag for Lewas in SL

PAPUA New Guinea turned in contrasting performances in their warmup matches ahead of the Women’s Cricket World Cup qualifiers in Colombo, Sri Lanka this week.
The City Pharmacy-sponsored Lewas arrived in the capital last Wednesday and got two 50-over matches under their belts as warmups for today’s opener against Bangladesh.
Pauke Siaka’s side scored a morale-boosting 178-run win over the Sri Lankan Emerging XI last Friday at the FTZ Ground.
PNG posted 308/9 with Norma Ovasuru (71) and Brenda Tau (55) hitting half centuries in the top order before Konio Oala (42), Siaka (41), Tanya Ruma (31) and VeruKila Frank (21) ensured the total reached 300 plus.
In reply, the Sri Lankan Emerging XI were skittled for 130 Sibona Jimmy (3-10) and Ravini Oa (3-15) each bagging three-fors.
But the Lewas were brought back down to earth with a crushing nine-wicket loss to Thailand in their next pratcice match on Sunday at Moors Cricket Ground.
Batting first, the Lewas were dismissed for a paltry 74 runs in 23 overs. Only Tanya Ruma (18) and Veru Frank (10) reached double figures in an otherwise dismal batting performance by the East Asia Pacific champions.
Thailand reached the target (75) in 16 overs with the loss of one wicket.