The ICC World T20 East Asia-Pacific group “A” qualifiers in Suva, Fiji was dominated by Papua New Guinea, as expected with Vanuatu also making it through to the next stage thanks to their better Net run-rate, despite losing against the HEBOU Barramundis in their final group match.
Going into the final day of the competition, PNG were the only team to have secured their qualification with the rest of the three team’s (Vanuatu, host’s Fiji and Samoa) still in with a chance to claim the 2nd qualification spot. However, Fiji needed an outright victory to confirm their spot which they squandered, as Samoa scored a dominant 9-wicket victory over them and finished with equal points but above them in the points table with better net run-rate.
Papua New Guinea remained unbeaten throughout the tournament with 6 wins in the bag. However, the final group match against Vanuatu could have gone either ways as a 2-wicket win ensured their clean slate in the event but also helped Vanuatu to have the better net run-rate above both Fiji and Samoa.
Former Big Bash franchise player with Hobart Hurricanes, Dom Michael lit up the crowd on the final day with a scintillating century to go along with couple of wickets to help Samoa get the better of Fiji. Samoa will be disappointed after having started the tournament very well with a victory over Vanuatu on the first day. This was the 3rd century in the tournament after Tony Ura’s 120 and Assad Vala’s 110 earlier in the event.
PNG’s Assad Vala finished as the tournament top-scorer with 294 runs from 6 matches followed by Samoa’s Dom Michael with 225 runs from 6 matches and PNG’s Tony Ura with 215 runs from 6 matches. Vanuatu’s Joshua Rasu (198 runs) and Fiji’s Metuisela Beitaki (192 runs) complete the top 5 among batsmen.
Vanuatu’s Calum Blake and Samoa’s overseas profession from New Zealand’s Auckland Cricket Club, Sean Solia, finished with 11 wickets each, however, Blake takes the top spot having played a match less than Solia. PNG’s Chad Soper finished in the 3rd overall place with 10 wickets to his name followed by Vanuatu’s Patrick Matautaava with 9 wickets.
PNG and Vanuatu now await the winner of ICC World T20 East Asia-Pacific group “B” qualifiers in Philippines to play in the EAP regional finals in 2019, from which the winner will advance to the Global qualifiers for 2020 World T20.
Brief Scores (Final round of group matches):
Vanuatu 145/9 in 20 Overs (J Vira 39, Andrew Mansale 23, Jelany Chilia 14, Assad Vala 4/25, Charles Amini 1/16, Lega Siaka 1/19) lost to Papua New Guinea 146/8 in 18.4 Overs (Jason Kila 41, Assad Vala 40, Charles Amini 23, Patrick Matautaava 3/27, Calum Blake 3/29, Jelany Chilia 1/22) by 2 wickets
Fiji 163/6 in 20 overs (Metuisela Beitaki 91, Maciu Gauna 19 n.o, Saimoni Tuitoga 15, Sean Solia 2/14, Benjamin Mailata 2/20, Dom Michael 2/26) lost to Samoa 165/1 in 16.3 overs (Dom Michael 100 n.o, Daniel Burgess 39, Benjamin Mailata 22 n.o, Peni Vuniwaqa 1/8) by 9 wickets
