East Asia-Pacific rivals on course for ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Div 2 showdown

The final qualifier for the ICC Trophy 2005 will come from Asia or East Asia-Pacific after two sides from each region progressed to the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 tournament in Malaysia today.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji were both unbeaten in the group stage of the eight team event and PNG will now play Qatar while Fiji will take on Nepal in Friday's semi-finals.

PNG needed to beat Kuwait to be certain of qualifying for the semi-finals from Group A. They did so in style, dismissing the opposition for 123 runs before knocking off the target in 30.4 overs for the loss of only two wickets.

The PNG result meant that a win for Nepal over Italy would be enough for second place in Group A and a passage to the semi-finals. Nepal has performed impressively since losing its opening match to PNG and produced the batting performance of the tournament to compile 304 for 6 in its 50 overs. The total proved 88 runs too many for Italy in reply.

For the third match in a row the decisive contribution for Fiji in Group B came from the experienced Neil Maxwell.

The former New South Wales and Victoria player has featured in three previous ICC Trophy events for Fiji and, with a third consecutive man-of-the-match award, he helped steer his country of birth to a 59-run victory over Qatar.

"There was some movement for the bowlers in the early morning but we batted solidly with some good partnerships after losing some early wickets and it was important for use to bat out our full 50 overs," said Maxwell.

"Qatar have a stong batting side and wanted to attack but our bowlers in bowled on a good length to them and they struggled to get us away for runs."

It will be asking a lot of Maxwell to expect a fourth monumental effort in Friday's semi-final against Nepal.

Friday semi-final schedule:

PNG v Qatar - Selangor Turf Club
Fiji v Nepal - Bayuemas Oval

Regular score updates (approx every 10 overs) and further tournament information is available at https://www.iccwcqmalaysia.com.