Kamlesh Barjati
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- 26 May 2011
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PNG have destroyed Samoa in their semifinal match on Amini Park to advance to the final of the Pepsi ICC East-Asia Pacific Division 1 where they will meet Vanuatu who overcame Fiji on Colts Cricket Ground in the other semifinal.
PNG again put on a cricket clinic for the many fans in attendance as they smashed balls all over Amini Park to post the incredible total of 5-234 from their 20 overs. Tony Ura made a magnificent century whilst Assad Vala continued his run of success with 92. Faasao Mulivai tried hard for Samoa taking figures of 3-36.
PNG assistant coach Greg Campbell believes Ura was well overdue for his maiden ton on home soil.
"I don't know how many times I've watched Tony make 50s, 60s and 70s over the last six months," he said. "It is great that he finally got one and I thought he and Assad (Vala) fed off each other really well."
In reply Samoa went all out early to put some respectability into the scoreboard mainly courtesy of Sean Cotter who made a quick 24. However that was about all they could manage in an attempt to overhaul the massive total and eventually were all out for 93.
Having not really been pushed yet this week PNG captain Rarua Dikana says his side will continue to play their brand of cricket right through the final.
"As we have said all week we will never take any team lightly," he said. "As soon as we lose sight of our objectives that's when weaknesses creep in and we won't let that happen."
Dikana also says his side won't be targeting key Vanuatu players Andrew Mansale and Simpson Obed in a bid to claim the title on home soil.
"We won't focus on any player in particular as we just want to focus on playing out own game tomorrow and come away with a great win," he said. "I also hope the form of Assad Vala and Tony Ura can continue in the game that matters."
Vanuatu looked to have corrected the mistakes they made in their earlier loss to Fiji when they started in a much more positive fashion on the Colts Cricket Ground. Sitting at 2-39 off 6 overs the ever reliable combination of Simpson Obed and Andrew Mansale came together and began putting the ball to the fence with ease.
They looked to be cruising at 2-86 before Obed was run out via some smart fielding from Josefa Dabea and then moments later Iniasi Cakacaka claimed the key wicket of Vanuatu skipper Mansale and Fiji reclaimed the upper hand.
Eventually Vanuatu gave their bowlers something to bowl at pushing the total up to 7-126.
Defending the modest total the key bowler early for Vanuatu was young Jelany Chilia who took the wickets of Bulabalavu and Cakacaka making Fiji's task suddenly become very difficult. After that Fiji never really got going against some tight Vanuatu bowling from usual suspects Mansale and Obed and finished their 20 overs with a disappointing 7-91 to set up a famous victory for the Vanuatu side.
It was a tremendous turnaround for Vanuatu who had been completely outplayed the same morning by Fiji but captain Andrew Mansale said he always believed his side would get the job done.
"I think our boys looked at Fiji this morning and thought because they had lost a couple of games that we should be able to beat them," he said. "However that was a big mistake and something we need to learn from."
"We looked at what went wrong in that match and worked really hard to fix some of those issues and it paid off."
Their coach Mark Coles says he couldn't be prouder of the character shown by his side to bounce back after a horrible morning.
"This morning was disappointing and we had our first real harsh chat after that," he said. "They are a really young group and to do what they did I am just so proud of them."
He is also aware that Vala and Ura have been invincible throughout the week and his side will need to get them early to have any sort of chance of a monumental upset tomorrow.
"It takes one ball and everyone has to fail at some stage and let's hope tomorrow is the day for those two," said Coles.
Looking ahead to PNG Mansale says he's side is aware of the challenge that lies ahead.
"It's going to be really tough," he said. "Our boys were a little too excited when we played them on Monday because we had been waiting eight years for the opportunity, but this time we are up for the challenge."
The tournament will now conclude the way it began with PNG v Vanuatu going head to head on Amini Park it what promises to be a magnificent final tomorrow.
Fixture below for tomorrow's finals:
9:50am
Amini Park - (3rd Place Play-off) - Fiji v Samoa
Colts Cricket Ground - Japan v PNG Development Squad
2pm
Amini Park - (Final) - PNG v Vanuatu
Brief scores:
At Amini Park: PNG 3-123, 20 overs (T Ura 102, A Vala 92; Mulivai 3-36)
Samoa 10-93, 19.4 overs (S Cotter 24; C Amini 3-8, M Dai 2-16)
PNG won by 141 runs
At Colts Cricket Ground: Vanuatu 7-126, 20 overs (A Mansale 42; M Khan 3-29)
Fiji 7-91, 20 overs (J Dabea 28; J Chila 2-17)
Vanuatu won by 35 runs
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/newsdetails.php?newsId=16180_1309942920
PNG again put on a cricket clinic for the many fans in attendance as they smashed balls all over Amini Park to post the incredible total of 5-234 from their 20 overs. Tony Ura made a magnificent century whilst Assad Vala continued his run of success with 92. Faasao Mulivai tried hard for Samoa taking figures of 3-36.
PNG assistant coach Greg Campbell believes Ura was well overdue for his maiden ton on home soil.
"I don't know how many times I've watched Tony make 50s, 60s and 70s over the last six months," he said. "It is great that he finally got one and I thought he and Assad (Vala) fed off each other really well."
In reply Samoa went all out early to put some respectability into the scoreboard mainly courtesy of Sean Cotter who made a quick 24. However that was about all they could manage in an attempt to overhaul the massive total and eventually were all out for 93.
Having not really been pushed yet this week PNG captain Rarua Dikana says his side will continue to play their brand of cricket right through the final.
"As we have said all week we will never take any team lightly," he said. "As soon as we lose sight of our objectives that's when weaknesses creep in and we won't let that happen."
Dikana also says his side won't be targeting key Vanuatu players Andrew Mansale and Simpson Obed in a bid to claim the title on home soil.
"We won't focus on any player in particular as we just want to focus on playing out own game tomorrow and come away with a great win," he said. "I also hope the form of Assad Vala and Tony Ura can continue in the game that matters."
Vanuatu looked to have corrected the mistakes they made in their earlier loss to Fiji when they started in a much more positive fashion on the Colts Cricket Ground. Sitting at 2-39 off 6 overs the ever reliable combination of Simpson Obed and Andrew Mansale came together and began putting the ball to the fence with ease.
They looked to be cruising at 2-86 before Obed was run out via some smart fielding from Josefa Dabea and then moments later Iniasi Cakacaka claimed the key wicket of Vanuatu skipper Mansale and Fiji reclaimed the upper hand.
Eventually Vanuatu gave their bowlers something to bowl at pushing the total up to 7-126.
Defending the modest total the key bowler early for Vanuatu was young Jelany Chilia who took the wickets of Bulabalavu and Cakacaka making Fiji's task suddenly become very difficult. After that Fiji never really got going against some tight Vanuatu bowling from usual suspects Mansale and Obed and finished their 20 overs with a disappointing 7-91 to set up a famous victory for the Vanuatu side.
It was a tremendous turnaround for Vanuatu who had been completely outplayed the same morning by Fiji but captain Andrew Mansale said he always believed his side would get the job done.
"I think our boys looked at Fiji this morning and thought because they had lost a couple of games that we should be able to beat them," he said. "However that was a big mistake and something we need to learn from."
"We looked at what went wrong in that match and worked really hard to fix some of those issues and it paid off."
Their coach Mark Coles says he couldn't be prouder of the character shown by his side to bounce back after a horrible morning.
"This morning was disappointing and we had our first real harsh chat after that," he said. "They are a really young group and to do what they did I am just so proud of them."
He is also aware that Vala and Ura have been invincible throughout the week and his side will need to get them early to have any sort of chance of a monumental upset tomorrow.
"It takes one ball and everyone has to fail at some stage and let's hope tomorrow is the day for those two," said Coles.
Looking ahead to PNG Mansale says he's side is aware of the challenge that lies ahead.
"It's going to be really tough," he said. "Our boys were a little too excited when we played them on Monday because we had been waiting eight years for the opportunity, but this time we are up for the challenge."
The tournament will now conclude the way it began with PNG v Vanuatu going head to head on Amini Park it what promises to be a magnificent final tomorrow.
Fixture below for tomorrow's finals:
9:50am
Amini Park - (3rd Place Play-off) - Fiji v Samoa
Colts Cricket Ground - Japan v PNG Development Squad
2pm
Amini Park - (Final) - PNG v Vanuatu
Brief scores:
At Amini Park: PNG 3-123, 20 overs (T Ura 102, A Vala 92; Mulivai 3-36)
Samoa 10-93, 19.4 overs (S Cotter 24; C Amini 3-8, M Dai 2-16)
PNG won by 141 runs
At Colts Cricket Ground: Vanuatu 7-126, 20 overs (A Mansale 42; M Khan 3-29)
Fiji 7-91, 20 overs (J Dabea 28; J Chila 2-17)
Vanuatu won by 35 runs
http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/newsdetails.php?newsId=16180_1309942920
