ICC East Asia-Pacific Men’s team finished their campaign in the 2018 Toyota Australian Country Championships with 6 wins (3 each in T20’s and 50-overs), the team’s best ever finish in the Championships.
EAP team missed out on finishing 2nd in the group standings in the 50-overs competition as they lost badly to Western Australia to lose the place to Queensland, who edged past them on better net run-rate.
In the final 50-overs match against Western Australia, EAP bowlers did all the hard work by dismissing them for 162 runs in 38.1 overs. Reece O’Connell (70 off 92) was the top-scorer for Western Australia while Jelany Chilia (3/27) & Nosaina Pokana (3/27) were the pick of the bowlers for EAP team.
EAP team suffered from a batting collapse which saw them get bowled out for only 87 runs in 26 overs to lose the match by 75 runs. The heavy margin of defeat saw them take a nose-dive in their net run-rate with Queensland going above them, having the same amount of wins in the 50-overs tournament.
For the EAP men’s team, Jason Kila (214 runs in 10 matches), Doriga Kipling (211 runs in 10 matches) & Nalin Nipiko (175 runs in 10 matches) were the top-scorers in the Championships (T20 and 50-overs combined). Among the bowlers, Jelany Chilia (14 wickets in 10 matches), Nalin Nipiko (13 wickets in 10 matches) & Patrick Matautaava (10 wickets in 8 matches) were the best performers for the team across both the formats.
ICC East Asia-Pacific men’s team finished 4th overall in the Championships with 6 wins from 10 matches. Click on the file attached to view the overall log:
2018 Toyota Australian Country Championships Points Table
Papua New Guinea players in the squad will take part in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Mar 2018 in Zimbabwe while Vanuatu’s players will take part in ICC World Cricket League Division 4 in Malaysia in Apr 2018.
A successful tour for ICC EAP men’s squad and coaches Shane Dietz (Vanuatu Head Coach) & John Rika (Fiji Head Coach) will be very happy with the performances of the players considering non-stop matches everyday in the T20 and 50-overs formats.
