Papua New Guinea have moved up to second place on the World Cricket League points table on the back of beating Scotland by five wickets in Port Moresby. Bouncing back in fine style, with Mahuru Dai‘s 63 off 54 balls, they chased the target of 204 with two overs and five wickets to spare.
The small target was helpful considering only one of the top five could move past 25. Captain Assad Vala had taken the score to 130 for 5 before handing the reins over to Dai, who came in during the 31st over, and went on a boundary-hitting spree. He struck 10 fours, which accounted for 63% of his runs, and ensured Scotland’s bowlers, despite the work they put in to push the chase to the 48th over, were defeated.
A much larger portion of the blame fell on the batsmen, which would have been doubly disappointing considering Scotland had won the toss. Matthew Cross made 91 off 120 balls – accounting for nearly half of his team’s total – as his team-mates fell in a heap around him. The next highest score was 22.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo