Tanya Ruma celebrates a Samoan wicket.Photo: SUPPLIED.
Papua New Guinea and Samoa now have the mouth-watering prospect of taking on Japan for a place in the next stage of the ICC Women’s World T20 qualifying, after finishing as the top 2 EAP members in the group stage of the Pacific Games.
It comes as PNG is now tantalisingly close to claiming another Pacific Games gold medal on home turf.
The Lewas were too strong for a gallant Samoa, restricting them to 7/95 off their 20 overs, in pursuit of 121.
Tanya Ruma was the player of the match for the hosts, smashing a quickfire 31 off 22 deliveries and chiming in with 1-14 off three overs.
“I was confident to bat and score runs for PNG to win,” Ruma said.
“All the girls are really proud because we’re into the grand finals… all of us are looking forward to tomorrow’s game.
“We need to win and celebrate a gold medal for Papua New Guinea.”
The gold medal match will take place at Amini Park from 2:00pm tomorrow afternoon local time.
If Samoa is to exact revenge on PNG, it will need to beat a resurgent Vanuatu first.
Fiji collapsed to just 82 all out in this afternoon’s race for third spot, which was claimed by the girls in green.
Vanuatu has now notched three consecutive wins after losing its first two matches, largely thanks to its newfound ability to restrict its opponents to low totals.
There will be one last chance of redemption for Fiji, though – it will play the loser of tomorrow morning’s Samoa-Vanuatu clash for bronze.
In this morning’s other game, Cook Islands claimed its first win of the tournament, easily beating New Caledonia by 80 runs.
Round 5 Match Summaries
Match 10
PNG Lewas 7/120 (20) Varoi Igo Morea (34), Tanya Ruma (31), Norma Ovasuru (22) Taalili Iosefo (3/17), Lagi Telea (2/13) defeated Samoa 7/95 (20) Faela Pula (17) Regina Lili’i(16), Leilia Bourne(14) , Kaia Arua (2/13),by 25 runs.
Match 11
Cook Islands 8/132 (20) Marii Kaukura (23) Punanga Kaveao(30), Terito Ine (12) , Jessica Wenevine (2/14), Louise Wamohe (2/18) defeated byNew Caledonia 10/52 (17.5) Rosina Angexetine (15), Louise Wamohe (6), June George (3/7) Punanga Kaveao (2/8) by 80 runs.
Match 12
Fiji 82 (17.1) Ruci Muriyalo 14, Selina Solman 2/11, Valenta Langiatu 2/13defeated by Vanuatu 5/84 (16.5) Rachel Andrew 34*, Silipa Raratabu 2/16by 5 wickets
For results, live scores and information on the 2015 Pacific Games Cricket please go to:
Press Release