PNG teams win tourney

The National Sports

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE Papua New Guinea men’s Academy and the women’s national cricket team have won their respective grand final matches against Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands Cricket Challenge on Saturday at Albert Park in Suva, Fiji.
The Academy opted to bat first in the men’s fixture and posted a 134-run target with all wickets caught out after 20 overs but Vanuatu couldn’t reach the target in their inning falling shot by 7 runs to finish with 127/8.
The Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd-sponsored Lewas continued their dominance in the tournament and won by a whopping 100 runs after restricting Vanuatu’s attempt to surpass their target of 132/7.
Lewas opted to bat first and reached 132, thanks to Sibona Jimmy’s 33 runs off 28 balls and contributions from Naoani Vare (18), Henao Thomas (15), Tania Ruma (14) and skipper Kaia Arua (14).
In the second inning, the Lewas bowlers maintained their fielding performance and took out all wickets while restricting Vanuatu to a score of just 32 runs after 9.3 overs.
Head coach Kath Hempenstall said she was pleased with the team for dominating their performance throughout the tournament undefeated. “We had every intention to post a big total but we got off to a slow start where we had set ourselves a good base with an opening stand between Sibona and Naoani,” Hempenstall told The National last week
“With the ball, we were completely dominating. That was a lot of scoreboard pressure obviously, for Vanuatu who I don’t believe they had scored anything near 132 in this tournament.
“So it was a completely dominating performance by our bowling group, fielding group was amazing.”
Hempenstall commended player of the match Sibona Jimmy who took out 3/7 in two overs with help from team mates Vicky Ara’a (3/5), Ravini Oa (2/9), Kaia Arua (1/3) and H Doriga (1/7)
“It’s a great reward for the whole team.
“I was really impressed with how they approached this tournament,” Hempenstall said.
Meanwhile, in the men’s fixture, Barramundi Lega Siaka posted a sensational 58 runs from 37 balls to help the Academy defeat Vanuatu by 7 runs with a combined fielding performance by Patrick Nou taking out 3/14 in four overs, Nosaina Pokana (1/8) and Jack Gardner (1/19) bagging the victory for the Rodney Maha coached side.