EAP fifth after two rounds of ACCC
Two rounds of two-day matches have now been completed in the Australian Country Cricket Championships (ACCC) and the ICC East Asia-Pacific representative side lies in fifth place. EAP is on six points, along with two other teams, and trail early leaders New South Wales Country and South Australia Country who have 12 points from their two matches.
The first round of matches started on New Year's Day and EAP hit the ground running against Northern Territory. Batting first, Papua New Guinea's Jack Vare was the glue that held the innings together with a patient 57 that enabled EAP to post a competitive 236. Samoa's Ben Mailata (39) and captain Andrew Mansale (30) also made telling contributions.
The bowlers, spearheaded by a fired up Willie Gavera, then had Northern Territory 3/63 overnight and they finished the job the next morning, dismissing the opposition for a paltry 100 and earning EAP six points for the first innings win. Gavera finished with figures of 6-47, an EAP record after 10 years of this team competing in the ACCC.
Unfortunately Gavera suffered a side-strain in his first innings effort and was unable to bowl for the remainder of the match. The rest of the bowling attack toiled hard after forcing NT to follow on, but could only snare six wickets in the Geelong heat on the day two afternoon. NT finished on 6/179.
Following a rest day on 3 January, EAP then came up against South Australia for the second round of two-day matches, a side that had also notched up a first innings win from their first match. Winning the toss and electing to bat, EAP struggled to gain any momentum with their innings. Wickets fell regularly until a strong fight back from Mahuru Dai (55) and Jason Kila (44) pushed the team through to 211.
Chris Amini was able to take a wicket late in the day to leave South Australia at 1/74 and with Fiji's Sak Lomani appealing successfully for an LBW on the first ball of the second morning, EAP's energy levels lifted. Unfortunately as the day wore on the wicket flattened out, and despite some tight, disciplined bowling, the South Australians applied themselves well and passed the first innings target with the loss of only five wickets. At the end of the day they finished 7/370, pushing them to second on the ladder and leaving EAP mid-table.
Today (6 January) will see two rounds of Twenty20 matches with EAP taking on ACT in the morning and West Australia Country in the afternoon. Coach Tom Evans is confident that the side can bounce back from its loss yesterday in a format that the players are well-suited to.
?We have a dynamic side with very powerful hitters, athletic fielders and bowlers that are used to the disciplined lines and lengths of the shortened overs formats, so I see this EAP team showing the competition its real talent in the next two Twenty20 matches.?
For up to date scorecards and ladders, visit MyCricket.com.au.
Short Scoreboards:
Round 1: East Asia-Pacific 236 (J Vare 57, B Mailata 39, A Mansale 30) defeated Northern Territory Country 100 (W Gavera 6-47) & 6/179 on first innings.
Round 2: East Asia-Pacific 211 (M Dai 55, J Kila 44) lost to South Australia Country 7/370 on first innings.