Papua New Guinea and Fiji to go head-to-head in all East Asia-Pacific final on Sunday.

[bdmoderator]

Papua New Guinea (PNG) will play Fiji in the final of the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 tournament in Malaysia on Sunday, with the winner guaranteed the final qualifying spot at the ICC Trophy 2005.

The two East Asia-Pacific sides beat Asian opposition in their semi-finals on Friday and both go into the final unbeaten in the eight-team tournament.

PNG secured its place in the final with a 36-run victory over Qatar. Batting first, PNG made 259 for 9 in 50 overs. Qatar's reply was checked by accuracy of the PNG bowling, particularly the left-arm medium pace of Toka Gaudi, and they were all out for 224 in 48.5 overs.

Gaudi picked up the first hat-trick of the tournament and was named Man of the Match.

"I was very pleased with the way that I bowled today and I think it was a great team effort in the field," said Gaudi.

"It has been tremendous to win all of our matches but the final is the important one. There is a bit of local rivalry between us and Fiji and it promises to be a great game with a lot at stake."

Fiji reached the final with a thrilling three-run victory over Nepal. After restricting Fiji to 143 for 8 in 50 overs, Nepal stuttered badly in reply, losing crucial early wickets. A spirited ninth wicket stand took Nepal to the verge of victory but, with ten overs still available, they lost their final wicket three runs short of the target.

PNG and Fiji are the two strongest teams in the East Asia-Pacific region and the local rivalry adds an extra element of intrigue to the final of the ICC WCQS Division 2 event.

The two sides last played in the final of the 2003 South Pacific Games in Fiji, with PNG winning a rain-affected game on the last ball. Fiji last beat PNG in a full international in 2001.

The winner of Sunday's final at the Royal Selangor Club will claim the final place in the 12-team ICC Trophy 2005 in Ireland from 1-13 July. The ICC Trophy 2005 will determine the final five qualifying places at the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.

Regular score updates on the final (approx every 10 overs) and further tournament information is available at http://www.iccwcqmalaysia.com.


Source:
http://www.icc-cricket.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2005/FEB/189532_ICC-MEDIA_25FEB2005.html

[bdmoderator]

I think this kind of tournament will help new teams to improve.

[Shehwar]

Wot ever happened to Malaysia !?...I thought they were pretty decent....Atleast they cud compete with teams like Fiji..Nepal and co. .....

[babubangla]

PNG, Fiji, Malaysia....feels good to see back....all our old playing mates!!!

[Mahir]

yeah...well, PNG has defeated Fiji n they are now gonna play the ICC Tourney to quialify for the world cup!

[Shehwar]

Well done to PNG....However i don't see them going into the top 5 in the ICC Tourney though....

[Xavier]

I am a newcomer about cricket and I don't have a clear idea about level of italian cricket but I thought we could win WCQS2 and get to the ICC Trophy in Ireland but.... we ended seventh out of eight and could only beat Zambia, what a disaster!

[AsifTheManRahman]

well, italy is really new to cricket, and it is not a big surprise that you guys did so bad. however, if you get the sponsors, the correct approach and generate interest for cricket among the general public, you'll start doing better.

[Xavier]

The problem is that cricket is a sport which is absolutely ignored in Italy, by public and by media.
I have been interested in it in the last months, looking for internet sites about cricket (and playing stickcricket!).

Italy won wcqs in Belgium last July, becoming first of european minnows,
http://www.crickitalia.org/Attivita2004/Nazionale2004/WCQS2004Risultati.htm#CALENDARIO%20&%20RISULTATI
now I could say we are in european ranking after England, Holland, Scotland, Ireland and Danmark.
Maybe if media start getting interested in it, cricket could become a quite known and appreciated sport in Italy, as it has happened with rugby in the last ten years.

(sorry for my english, not so good)

[AsifTheManRahman]

ur english is fine.

the problem with italy is that it's too obsessed with soccer. i'm not sure how much interest cricket will generate even with humongous efforts from the cricket board and/or government. currently, any such attempt will probably seem useless.

however, i'd like to state once again that with the correct approach, you guys may get as good as denmark, holland, etc in the next twenty years or so.

it will take time - just have patience. may not happen in your lifetime, but it's bound to happen if (and i repeat) the correct approach is taken from all involved.

[Xavier]

Originally posted by AsifTheManRahman

the problem with italy is that it's too obsessed with soccer.

That is absolutely true! We call it calcio.

In Italy:
First sport is calcio (forza Roma, obviously)
Second sport is calcio
Third sport is calcio...
then you have Formula1, basket, tennis and so on.

I must say I am not a nationalist, in sport I like to support minnows or outsiders, but I would like that media would take more interest in cricket, so that I could see it on tv channels, as I am trying to understand the game.

[AsifTheManRahman]

why not try some online resources? i understand that someone had directed you to the banglacricket multimedia section. the indo-pak series beginning tonight (canada time) will be broadcasted on musiqpakistan.com (although the streaming may be bad). so there's a lot of opportunity out there. go grab them - they're all yours! :)

[Xavier]

Thank you very much, I will try and see it. I have a broadband connection (1.2 MB) so I hope there will not be problems about streaming.

I have appreciated some of the videos on multimedia section, I hope there will also be some when Bangladesh will play versus England, I suppose it is a very important test for you.

Goodbye (it's 11.10 pm here in Italy)