Dai & Dikana guide PNG to victory
An unbeaten run-a-ball century from Mahuru Dai and 5-wicket haul from Captain Rarua Dikana guided Papua New Guinea (PNG) to victory in their playoff match for third place against the Cayman Islands
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Having won the toss, Dikana elected to bat in perfect conditions at Marrara Oval.
The PNG top-order stumbled early against the new ball moving tentatively to 4/66. Arua Uda (3 off 19 balls), Frank Doura (15 off 23), John Ovia (5 off 14) and Jamie Brazier (27 off 36) all fell cheaply as the Cayman Islands pace attack hit top gear.
A 38-run partnership from Chris Amini (12 off 40) and Dai (102 not out off 102 balls) steadied the ship however when Amini was dismissed the PNG innings was still very much in the balance at 5/104.
Assad Vala (57 off 62) joined Dai to produce an innings-saving partnership for the second time in as many matches. The talented duo broke open the innings with clever placement and aggressive running between wickets in their 156-run stand that took PNG to a healthy 6/263 at the completion of their allocated 50 overs.
Dai's unbeaten century, one of only three in the tournament, followed on from his sparkling 86 in the Semi-Final against Uganda, and may represent the coming of age of one of PNG's brightest talents.
19-year-old paceman Loa Nou (2/37 off 6 overs) struck twice in his second over to reduce the Cayman Islands to 2/8 early in their innings.
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With the middle-order showing strong resistance PNG Captain Dikana (5/37 off 8) returned to the crease and produced the best PNG bowling performance of the tournament. His efforts tearing the heart out of the Cayman Islands as they lost 5 wickets for 20 runs on their way to a 23-run loss, finishing on 9/240 after 50 overs.
Dai was named Man of the Match as PNG secured third place in the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 event. PNG remain in Division 3 with the next event scheduled for early 2009.
PNG Captain Rarua Dikana commented:
"It was good to bounce back (from the Semi-Final loss to Uganda) and win today. We are disappointed with third place and have learnt that we can't effort any mistakes in a tournament like this. We now need to start looking at our preparation for 2009 and I am sure that we can improve on our results here."
"It was good to bounce back (from the Semi-Final loss to Uganda) and win today. We are disappointed with third place and have learnt that we can't effort any mistakes in a tournament like this. We now need to start looking at our preparation for 2009 and I am sure that we can improve on our results here."
Full scorecards and tournament statistics are available here