PNG Baramundi's to meet Vanuatu or Fiji

Image credit: pngcricket.com

Fiji and Vanuatu will square off on Thursday in an effective winner-takes all match for the right to face Papua New Guinea inthe East Asia Pacific T20 Cricket final.

The Barramundi’s beat Fiji by 41 runs in a top of the table clash on Wednesday, before thrashing the Cook Islands by 114 runs, to seal their place in the tournament decider.

Fiji kept their hopes alive after beating Samoa by three wickets in the afternoon, making for a happy captain Joe Rika.

“Pretty decent win I’d say. Samoa’s had it over us for the last couple of years and it’s good to get one back, and with an inexperienced side like this it makes the win a little bit more sweeter.”

It was a bitter-sweet day for Samoa skipper Ben Malaita, who saw his team bow out of contention despite his heroics with bat and ball.

The all-rounder scored a quick-fire 70 and added 2 for 23 with the ball against Fiji, just a few hours after blazing 114 not out and picking up 4 wickets for 5 runs in a massive win over Indonesia.

“Words can’t describe that sort of performance. It is disappointing to come at this stage of the tournament but hopefully our team can sort of just build moving into the next couple of games.”

In the other Wednesday results, Japan picked up its second win of the tournament against the Cook Islands and Vanuatu beat Indonesia. RNZI