Competitive Cricket a Huge Success in Milne Bay
The Milne Bay Dulux Regional Championship was played between 8 Regional Teams spaning much of Milne Bay Province. The Grand Finals played in Alatou bought to a thrilling conclusion three weeks of cricket in front of a crowd of over 500 spectators on Friday the 27th of May, with regional champions being crowned in the Men's, Women's Championship and a Local Junior competition.
The Dulux Women's and Junior's finals were held in the morning, with the format for both games being reduced from Twenty20 to 15 overs a side due to morning rain. The Dulux Women's game was contested between Divinai and Ahioma, with the result going the way of Divinai who batted first and scored 75 runs for the loss of 7 wickets (all out) off their 9.4 overs. In reply Ahioma lost early wickets and only posted 53 runs for the loss of 7 wickets (all out). The best player in the Women?s final was Nonah Thomas who finished the match with 1 wicket for 12 runs with the ball, 22 runs with the bat and a catch in the field.
In the Junior's tournament final Garuahi won the toss and chose bowl. Garuahi bowled and fielded well to restrict Maiwara to 79 runs off their full allocation of 15 overs, Cornish, the Garuahi captain, took 2 wickets for 7 runs. In reply Garuahi needed 80 runs for victory for the Junior Championship, they completed this task with 4 balls to spare off 14.2 overs. Cornish led by example to hit 19 runs not out to see his team to victory and won the Best Player in the Grand Final.
The men's final followed the completion of the women's and juniors finals and by this time. Ahioma batted first and compiled 126 runs for the loss of 6 wickets off their 20 overs; Mesi Beloa hit 41 runs for Ahioma. In reply Alotau lost a steady stream of wickets which resulted in them being bowled out after 14.2 overs for a total of 53 runs. Mesi Beloa also starred with the ball and took 3 wickets for 11 runs and was named the Best Player in the Grand Final.
At the conclusion of the men's final the presentations were made to the winning teams. Attending this presentation were Huhu Local Level Government Area Manager Mr Richard Dawana, Alotau Town Mayor the Honourable Mr Gita Elliot, Cricket PNG staff, Regional Cricket Manager (RCM) for Milne Bay Mr Seki Taitibe, current Barramundi's wicket keeper and Dulux Ambassador Jack Vare and recently arrived Australian Youth Ambassador for Development based in Milne Bay Mr David Morey.
Regional Manager for Milne Bay Seki Tiaibe stated "how good it was for the entire Province to have a serious, competitive tournament for Men, Women & Juniors played involving the community."
"This is how we develop competitive cricket and future Champions and it shows the outstanding programs put in place by Cricket PNG."
"Having a Global serious brand like DULUX behind us makes all of the differenc,", said Mr Titiabe