Lewas lose opening tie

THE Kumul Petroleum PNG Lewas got off to a slow start after losing their opening match (80/9) against New Zealand’s Aotearoa Maori team (81/3) by 7 wickets in the Women’s Twenty-20 International (T20I) Pacific Cup tournament yesterday.
The Maori women, who won the toss and elected to bowl, had a strong start in the bowling department eliminating PNG’s top order in Naoani Vare (1 off 9 balls) and Tanya Ruma (0 off 1 run) in the first (1st) over while Sibona Jimmy (17 off 16 balls) was caught out in the 6th over.
Lewas top batters in the opening match saw Kaia Arua scoring most runs (22 off 37 balls), followed by Jimmy and Pauke Siaka (14 off 14 balls).
The Maori side, who debuted in the 2024 edition of the Pacific Cup, fielded a strong side against the defending champions taking them out through run out wickets and great fielding on the cricket pitch.
This also saw White Ferns spinner Eden Carson (2-8), Anika Todd (2-16) and Ocean Bartlett (2-14) score most of the wickets in the opening match.
Meanwhile, the Maori side who were chasing 81 runs saw top starting batters Georgia Atkinson (29 off 41 balls) and Jess McFadyen (29 off 34 balls) score most of the runs for the hosts side.
In the bowling department, Lewas bowler Isabel Toua managed to score a wicket (1-17) while two run outs were each made by Vicky Ara’a and skipper Brenda Tau.
In a live interview during this match yesterday Performance Director Taitenda Taibu said,” There’s been some good bowling and some really energetic fielding. One thing that we’ve been trying to work on is starting well.”
“It’s a slow in the tournament but we’ll improve.”
Meanwhile, the Lewas turnaround in the afternoon session saw them make a strong statement against Samoa (64/10) defeating them after 10 wickets (65/0).
They are expected to take on Cook Islands in round three (3) today at the Lloyd Elsmore Park 12pm (PNG time) with the Lewas hopeful of grabbing a second win.