PNG and Singapore register wins
Papua New Guinea 204 for 5 (Amini 71*, Ura 57, Arifin 1-24, Rahim 1-22) beat Malaysia 158 (Alagaratham 49, Dikana 2 for 14, Areni 2 for 27, Dai 2 for 41) by 46 runs
Cricinfo
25-Feb-2013
Papua New Guinea 204 for 5 (Amini 71*, Ura 57, Arifin 1-24, Rahim 1-22) beat Malaysia 158 (Alagaratham 49, Dikana 2 for 14, Areni 2 for 27, Dai 2 for 41) by 46 runs
Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Singapore have scored comfortable wins on day one of the Air Niugini Supa Series in Port Moresby on Wednesday.
The home side beat Malaysia by 46 runs at Amini Park thanks to a strong batting performance, while Singapore exposed Hong Kong's inexperience to win by 90 runs at Colts Ground.
Malaysia won the toss and sent PNG in on a bouncy wicket. The PNG batsmen, led by Chris Amini, responded with 204 from 50 overs. Openers, Vani Vagi Morea and Tony Ura gave the PNG innings a firm base putting on 51 runs for the first wicket. Ura continued to reach first half-century for the Barramundis while in partnership with Chris Amini. The more experienced Amini batted in his usual attractive manner to close the innings out with an unbeaten 71.
The PNG attack bowled tightly to ensure Malaysia's reply never really got going. Captain Rarua Dikana maintained pressure, bowling 10 overs and conceding just 14 runs and snaring two wickets in the process. Malaysia captain, Suhan Kumar, attempting to increase the tempo in a rousing innings of 49, but eventually his team was bowled out for 158 in the 47th over to give the home team a comfortable win.
PNG coach, Andy Bichel, was pleased with his batsmen’s show. "The pitch this morning was quite bouncy and there was genuine turn, so to have our top order bats really perform was critical to our success today. Tony Ura made his first 50 as a Barramundi and looked strong in doing so, whilst Chris Amini fired up to score 75 not out. I was pleased that we had enough wickets in hand at the end of the game to perform strongly in the Powerplay.”
Singapore 252 for 8 (Suryawanshi 32, Mendis 41, Param 53, Arora 42, Z Ali 3-31, Amar 3-47) beat Hong Kong 162 (Gul 58, Mulewa 3-23, Tripathi 3-26) by 90 runs
In the other game at the Colts Ground, Singapore bowlers, Rohan Tripathi and Dharmichand Mulewa, capitalised on a good effort from their batsmen to give their team a 90-run win over Hong Kong.
Singapore elected to bat and there were contributions all round from Anish Param who top-scored with 53 and Munish Arora (42), while openers Buddhika Mendis and Chetan Suryawanshi set the tone.
Hong Kong, a Division Three team in the World Cricket League but fielding a young squad in this tournament, started smoothly in their response. It needed the guile of Mulewa to take three quick wickets to halt Hong Kong's momentum, while Rohan Tripathi cleaned up the lower-order with four wickets.