Lewas make solid start

The National Sports

By JAMIE HARO
THE Papua New Guinea Lewas returned a win and a loss on the opening day of the 2024 Women’s Twenty-20 International (T20I) Pacific Cup tournament initially losing to hosts Aotearoa Maori before defeating Samoa at the Lloyd Elsmore Park in Auckland yesterday.
The Brenda Tau-led side were restricted to 80/9 by the Maori in their opening fixture with the Kiwis (81/3) reaching the target for the loss of three wickets earning a seven-wicket win.
PNG made up for that loss against Samoa in their second match where they bowled women in blue out for 64 in the 18th over and then reaching the target (65/0) in eight overs for a morale-boosting 10-wicket win.
In other day one fixtures, Samoa (109/9) earlier edged Cook Islands (108/9) by 1 run in a thriller, Vanuatu posted a strong 167/7 against Fiji (34/10) and dismissed them for just 34 runs for a 135-run win.
In PNG’s performance against Samoa, openers Naoani Vare (34 not out) and skipper Tau (20 not out) reached the target helped a little by 11 extras let through by misfields and wayward bowling.
In other round two fixtures, Cook Islands registered their first win (70/1) a nine-wicket win over Fiji (69) and the Maori (92/5) made it two from two after a scrappy five-wicket win over Vanuatu (91/9).
Kaia Arua claimed a four-for (4-11) against Samoa and while Sibona Jimmy claimed a wicket (1-4) and wicketkeeper and skipper Tau assisted in five run outs.
Head coach David Drew was pleased with the side’s effort on the opening day.
“It was a good hit out against Maori this morning (yesterday). A good fight back after some quick wickets. We pushed them with the ball and in the field. A solid effort but not quite good enough,” he said. “Against the Samoans, an excellent fielding display with five run outs set the foundation. The Lewas were able to get the win.”
Meanwhile, all teams are expected to play a match each today with the Lewas going up against the Pacific Cup debutants Cook Islands at noon (PNG local time), the Maori take on Fiji while Vanuatu will contest against Samoa.