by The Professor » Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:35 pm
Papua New Guinea’s tour of Singapore was always going to be a tightly contested affair. There are just 2 Ratings Points (yeah, I don’t know either) between the two teams who are 20th and 19th respectively in the T20I rankings. This has been reflected in the results of the two matches carried out thus far with the series resting at one a piece – despite the relative dominance of the Singaporean players.
Singapore took the opening game yesterday thanks to Akshay Puri helping limit PNG to just 150 – 18 runs short of the target. Puri got the best figures of 3-26 but was ably supported by Vinoth Baskaran who has got a brace in both games to lead the way in terms of wickets taken.
Today’s game was more of a batter friendly occasion – evident in the fact that 409 runs were shared between the two sides. Even though Surendran Chandramohan scored his maiden international century and Singapore reached their second highest ever T20 score, Papua New Guinea still managed to chase it down with 2 balls remaining. Oddly enough, the successful chase also marked Papua New Guinea’s second highest ever T20I score – but was their highest in a chase. Due to the fact that Chandramohan made a paltry 2 runs in the first match, it is his teammate Arjun Mutreja who leads out the run scorers courtesy of 77 yesterday and 36 today.
The series continues on Tuesday, concluding on Wednesday.
"It has been said of the unseen army of the dead, on their everlasting march, that when they are passing a rural cricket ground the Englishman falls out of the ranks for a moment to look over the gate and smile."