Papua New Guinea might not have come out of their opening game in the T20 World Cup 2024 as the victors but they sure did showcase some fine grit and determination to keep West Indies at bay for the majority of the second innings.
The PNG skipper Assad Vala was a key figure in their bowling attack as he was the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets for just 28 runs in his 4 overs. He managed to take the wickets of the set batter in Brandon King followed by the early dismissal of Sherfane Rutherford.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, the skipper suggested that they might have been a couple of runs short in the first innings. Sese Bau was the only batter to get a fifty in the game and the other batters were not able to get decent starts to support him which meant that they could only set a score of 136/8.
He commented, “We knew we missed a trick towards the end. Another 15-20 runs would’ve been nice. But from the wickets we lost early, to post 136 was a good effort”.
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Despite the low score on the board, PNG managed to put up a very decent fight against the 2-time champions in West Indies as the top-order struggled for most of the innings barring Brandon King who looked to be in fine touch with the bat and scoring boundaries regularly as they did not back down from the challenge that WI posed against them.
“Yeah, really happy with the way we fought. Got wickets in key moments. It’s an opportunity and challenge we look forward to”.
The skipper suggested that the presence of Phil Simmons who has joined the PNG management as their specialist coach for the tournament has assisted the side in understanding the conditions a bit better which has allowed PNG to rise up to the challenge.
READ MORE: ICC T20 World Cup 2024: West Indies Open Tournament With Win Over Papua New Guinea in Curtain-raiser
“Want to play our best cricket against the best players. He’s been helpful with the wickets and conditions (talking about Phil Simmons),” he concluded.
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