Bermuda 102

Papua New Guinea 103 for three

Papua New Guinea dashed Bermuda's hopes of progressing to the Under-19 World Cup Plate semi-finals at the Johor Cricket Academy in Malaysia yesterday, recording a seven-wicket victory .

Bermuda won the toss and opted to take first strike but soon found themselves fluttering at 29 for three in the tenth over as Papua New Guinea's opening bowling attack made early inroads.

But resistance finally arrived in the form of skipper Rodney Trott who dominated a 17-run, fourth-wicket stand with Terryn Fray who added another 16 runs for the sixth-wicket with middle order bat Malachi Jones.

Trott followed up last week's half-century against Ireland with a polished 23 that arrived off 45 balls, before departing in the 15th over with the score 46 for four.

Fray, demoted down the order to number five, played a typical anchor role in both partnerships that temporarily kept Bermuda's opponents at bay, stroking a patient ten off 29 deliveries.

In stark contrast the swashbuckling Jones thumped a feisty 11 off 13 balls with two boundaries.

Tailenders Dennico Hollis and Kyle Hodsoll produced Bermuda's highest stand of the innings, adding 25 for the ninth wicket as the Islanders' tail wagged.

Hollis slammed three boundaries on the way to a well-played 15 off 35 balls while a more sedated Hodsoll grafted eight off 38 deliveries before Bermuda were eventually dismissed in the 35th over, losing their last four wickets for the addition of 33 runs.

Bermuda's modest total was always going to be difficult to defend and in the end proved too shallow for Papua New Guinea who motored to victory with 188 balls to spare.

Off -spinners Trott and Tamauri Tucker and seamer Jones accounted for the three wickets before Papua New Guinea crossed Bermuda's total in the 19th over.

Bermuda now take on Ireland in their final match at the World Cup on Friday, a team they beat by 20 runs last week to record their first win.

It was a victory that prompted praise from Premier Ewart Brown.

"Dear cricketers, congratulations on your World Cup victory over Ireland. It's a tremendous accomplishment!" Premier Brown stated in a fax sent to Bermuda Under-19 manager Gerald Bean.

"You have shown that a focused and dedicated effort can bring fantastic results. Should you continue on with your best effort I have no doubt you will taste continued success.

"Work hard. Be proud. Stand tall."

International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas regional boss Martin Vieira also acknowledged Bermuda's narrow win over Associate rivals Ireland.

"As the regional development manager it always gives me great satisfaction when teams representing the Americas perform well at the International level," he told The Royal Gazette. "Critics are quick to slam developing countries when they are blown out in games usually against professional teams or countries who have played at a high level for many more years.

"Very seldom do they see that small steps like Bermuda's victory here can lead to giant leaps in the future."

Meanwhile, Bermuda's national women's team return from South Africa this week, having lost all of their matches in their first appearance at the World Cup.

But Pakistan's star bowler Urooj Mumtaz, who claimed a hat-trick against Zimbabwe, was yesterday full of praise for the Island team

After Pakistan, she said, "my second team at the event is Bermuda, who we really bonded with when we played a practise game against them before the tournament started.

"After the game we shared the bus back with them and we had such fun singing together – we would sing our songs and they would then try and copy us which was so funny.

"They are really great girls, who are trying their very best at the event, and it is a massive thing for them to even be playing here considering many of them only took up the game in the last couple of years.

"They have fantastic team spirit and we have learnt a lot from them in this area and I am sure they will get stronger in the future."