Day 3 of the tournament Japan vs Papua New Guinea Match Report

Japan won a coin toss for the first time throughout the tournament, with captain Ota choosing to take the lead in Fielding. In an interview after the toss, he said that the team has decided to take the lead in the previous two games. Will that decision be a good thing?

Another major change for the Japanese team is that they have already introduced left-handed spinner Miyaji in the second over. It is said that new balls at the start of the game are slippery and difficult to control the ball for spinners, as they spin at a slow speed when throwing. However, Miyaji is the team’s best bowler up until this tournament. In order to keep the score at a minimum for Papua New Guinea, which boasts a strong batting lineup, they will have to take the wickets from an early stage. It’s definitely the right decision.

However, they were unable to take the wicket in the end, and by the time they took the first wicket, they allowed Papua New Guinea opening batsmen Jimmy and Ruma to 77 runs. Although there were many opportunities to take the wicket, Japan was hit by six fallen balls throughout the inning and a combined defensive mistake. It is urgently necessary to improve our defensively in order to meet the efforts of the bowlers.

In the end, Papua New Guinea scored a tournament-high 138 runs in the 20th over. Among them, Ruma, who scored 69 runs, including two major six runs, showed a deserving performance that was worthy of being selected as MVP after the match, including batting as well as aggressive running at the end of the inning.

Japan, which requires 139 runs for their first victory in the tournament, batted 20 overs in a row, but they managed to score only 60 runs ahead of Papua New Guinea’s Araa and others who took three wickets with accurate leg spins, finishing the inning, leading to Papua New Guinea’s 78 runs behind.