Cricket PNG Garamuts Lose the First Match of the ICC Cricket World Cup East Asia Pacific Division 1 Qualifier in Japan
After a severely weather-disrupted preparation over the past six weeks, the Cricket PNG Garamuts lost their first match of the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup (50-Over) East Asia Pacific Division 1 Qualifier against the host country, Japan.
The Japan U19 team outclassed the Garamuts, bowling them out for 71 runs in reply to their score of 177 runs for 8 wickets in a rain-shortened match reduced to 35 overs each. Japan’s spinners took control of the match after their opening attack had removed the Garamuts' openers with only 12 runs on the board. Earlier, the Garamuts had struggled to take wickets until late in the Japan innings, with the score advancing to over 100 before the 2nd wicket fell.
That platform allowed Japan to push on in the latter part of their innings, and despite losing another 6 wickets, they scored 64 runs from the last 8 overs to set a very respectable target of 178 runs from 210 balls. The Garamuts' next match is against Fiji on Saturday, 26th April, and they will need to find form quickly over the next 24 hours to turn their tournament around.
To qualify for the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup, the Garamuts must win well in the next three matches and hope that Japan falters after their strong first-up performance. Brief scores: Japan U19 177 for 8 (Nihar Parmar 59, Nikhil Pol 38, Vagi Vani 3-20) def. PNG U19 71-10 (Rarua Dikana Jnr 19, Nihar Pamar 4-4, Hugo Tani-Kelly 3-29)
Full scores: https://cricclubs.com/cricketorjp/fullScorecard.do?matchId=5357&clubId=21278 -ENDS- For further information, please contact info@cricketpng.org About Cricket PNG Cricket PNG (CPNG) is the National Sports Federation responsible for the governance, promotion and development of cricket in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
CPNG has been an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1973 and is supported by the ICC East Asia-Pacific (EAP) regional office, and more recently the PNG Olympic Committee. CPNG currently has about 70 staff in ten (10) regions across PNG with a majority involved in driving entry-level participation through the Schools Kriket Programme and the School Kriket Programme (Malolo Hard-Ball Competition). In 2024, the School Kriket Programme reached over 129,000 students across PNG.
Domestically, the Isuzu T20 Smash is our pinnacle event, supported by men’s and women’s Nationals at U19 and Senior levels. At the high-performance level internationally, our Barramundis (national men) are ranked 20th in T20 and had ODI status until early 2023, our Lewas (national women) are ranked 12th in T20 and currently have ODI status, our Garamuts (U19 boys) and Siales (U19 girls) have historically been the best performed of the ICC EAP U19 member teams.
