EAP All-Stars Claim Melbourne Mid-Week Title
The East Asia-Pacific All-Stars are the new champions of the 2011 Melbourne mid-week cricket competition after denying MCCX Cricket Club a 5th straight title with a comfortable 5 wicket victory at Murphy Reserve in Port Melbourne on Wednesday.
The side is made up of PNG male players who are in Melbourne as part of the Brian Bell Future Stars Scholarship Program as well as two members of the Japanese women's team, Shizuka Kubota and Mariko Yamamoto also in Melbourne on cricket scholarships.
"It is great for us to win a grand final and it is a terrific way for all of us to conclude what has been a fantastic experience developing our cricket in Melbourne over the last few months," said EAP All-Stars and PNG national captain Rarua Dikana.
After observing a minutes silence out of respect for those affected by the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the All-Stars who were missing three key strike bowlers in Pipi Raho, Loa Nou and Hitolo Areni set about the task of dismissing an MCCX team that included three Melbourne 1st grade players.
Despite missing the majority of their pace attack, captain Dikana and four spin bowlers Mahuru Dai, Jason Kila, Lega Siaka and Tony Ura bowled beautifully through the 40 overs on the slow flat deck to restrict MCCX to a very gettable 9-173.
Lega Siaka was the best of the bowlers taking four wickets including an outstanding reflex caught and bowled dismissal that triggered a middle order collapse from MCCX. Siaka was also responsible for two outstanding run outs after sprinting in from the deep and executing two bullet like throws, much to the disbelief of the locals in attendance.
Siaka and Ura then had to quickly switch their focus to batting and made a solid start taking the All-Stars to 0-32 off just five overs before Ura was dismissed for 28. Siaka soon followed and EAP were in trouble at 2-42.
However a 63 run 3rd wicket partnership between Mahuru Dai and Jason Kila steadied the ship as the pair began to hit a number of the MCCX bowlers all over the park.
When Dai was dismissed for 22, Kila Pala continued on from where Dai left off smashing a huge six on his way to 18. Despite losing Pala for 18 and Sese Bau for a duck in quick succession when the side still required about 30 runs, the All-Stars cruised to victory thanks to a man-of-the-match innings of 75 not out that included two 6s and six 4s from Jason Kila. He was well supported in the latter overs by his skipper who was also not out on 13.
"I was really happy with Jason's performance, the way he used his feet to the spinners throughout the innings was fantastic," said EAP All-Stars coach Tom Evans.
Although not being required with the bat or ball on the day, both Japanese girls fielded outstandingly and played a huge part in getting the team to the final.
"They were both terrific all season and contributed well with both bat and ball throughout the year," said Evans. "It was great to have them involved."
All players will head back to their home countries in the coming weeks to prepare for future international tournaments including the Pepsi World Cricket League Division 2 tournament that PNG are competing in during April in Dubai.