Papua New Guinea are going to take part in the WT20 for the first time in their history. They made it to the main draw of the tournament by beating Kenya in the qualifiers today.
Having gone into the game against Kenya with just one loss, PNG were well and truly in with a chance to finish at the top of their group standings.
But, the way the game started, it looked a lost case for them. With the scorecard reading 6 for 19 at the end of the 4th over, nobody thought PNG would be able to turn it around from there.
Norman Vanua, however, had other ideas. Not only did the 25-year old all-rounder get PNG to a respectable and fighting total of 118 with a stroke-filled half-century, he struck with the new ball as well to give PNG the early momentum in their defense of the modest total.
The other PNG bowlers also stepped up to the task including Nosaina Pokana and the skipper Assad Vala. The duo shared 6 wickets between themselves with a 3-fer each and bundled Kenya out for just 73.
PNG, at the conclusion of the group stage, had 10 points in their kitty with 5 wins and one loss. Netherlands also had the same no. of points in Group A, but PNG’s net run rate (NRR) of +2.086 was far better than Netherlands’ NRR of +1.776.
In the WT20 qualifiers, 14 associate teams were divided into two groups of 7 teams each.
While, the teams which top the groups would qualify for the WT20 directly, the teams finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the two groups will have to go through the playoffs to secure their qualification. The teams finishing 5th, 6th and 7th will be out of the contention.
Apart from PNG, the other team which has the best chances of qualifying directly for the WT20 2020 is Ireland as they are topping Group B with 8 points at the moment.
Although there is a game remaining in that group between UAE and Canada, both of whom have 6 points each, they are way behind Ireland in terms of NRR. It doesn’t seem they would be able to displace Ireland from the top of the Group B points table.
