PNG beat the Dutch to finish third

THE PNG Garamuts have finished third in the U19 Cricket World Cup qualifiers that recently ended in Toronto, Canada after an emphatic 86-run victory over the Netherlands on the final day on Sunday.
They have qualified for  the ICC U19 World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand from next January 16-30.
This would make it the second world event the PNG juniors’ have qualified for after last year’s World Cup in Malaysia .
In other results Hong Kong earned a spot at the world cup despite a narrow one wicket loss to the USA on Sunday.
Tournament winners Ireland thrashed Vanuatu by 291 runs and Afghanistan slumped to five wicket loss to hosts Canada.
The top six from this event now proceed on to the main event in 15 months.
They are Ireland, Afghanistan, PNG, Canada, USA and Hong Kong.
Fittingly PNG had defeated all four teams below it but lost to the top two.
Uganda, Netherlands, Vanuatu and Sierra Leone finished in that order with the west Africans having failed to make the event and having all their scheduled matches awarded to their opponents.
In the match against the Netherlands, PNG opener Heni Siaka hit the highest score by a Garamut  making 103,  while skipper John Reva collected a treble (3-30) in a gratifying finish to the tournament.
PNG set the Dutch 254 and dismissed the Europeans for 168 by the 49th over.
For the tournament statistics, Irishman Paul Stirling topped the run scorers list with 423 runs while PNG’s Siaka came in sixth with 277.
The highest score was Stirling’s 164 with Siaka’s 103 the fifth best.
The best bowling figures went to Reva with 7-34 against the USA while the most wickets taken went to Afghan paceman Zakiullah Zaki who took 21 scalps from eight games.