Japan finish top ahead of semifinals

Japan, PNG and Samoa all won on the final morning of round-robin matches at the 2012 Pepsi ICC East Asia-Pacific Women's Championship in Vanuatu.

Japan who top the table will now meet Vanuatu again this afternoon at Kazaa Field for a place in the final, while at Independence Park, PNG and Samoa will battle it out in the other semifinal. A fifth place classification match will also take place at Club Hippique between Fiji and the Cook Islands.

At Independence Park this morning Japan continued their outstanding form with yet another complete performance, this time against the hosts Vanuatu.

Batting first Vanuatu found the going tough thanks to a blistering opening spell of bowling from Japanese sensation Shizuka Kubota who ended with figures of 4-7. Despite the absence of their captain, Japan were once again sharp in the field restricting the hosts to 9-69 off their 20 overs.

In the second innings Japan were cruising early at 0-29 before Vanuatu's Mahina Tarimiala took a double wicket maiden that brought life back into the large crowd in attendance. However as they have done all tournament, Japan steadied the ship to pass Vanuatu's total with eight wickets in hand in just 13 overs.

"We will continue to concentrate and focus on doing the basics well this afternoon," said Japan coach Chris Ferguson. "We are continuing to get better with every match which is very pleasing going into tomorrow as well."

At Kazaa Field Fiji needed to pull off an upset win over Samoa to keep alive their semifinal hopes. Batting first Fiji?s Alicia Dean was magnificent smashing 44 runs to assist her side to the very competitive total of 6-99.

Despite the higher than expected run chase Samoa demonstrated further improvement in their game from a disappointing start to the tournament to pass Fiji's score in the 16th over with seven wickets in hand.

Madeleine Chapman with 36 and Perilini Mulitalo with 19 were the best with the bat for Samoa who will look to turn the tables on their first round loss to PNG in this afternoons semifinal.
Papua New Guinea completed a comfortable nine wicket victory over the Cook Islands in the final round-robin match, chasing down their target of 48 within six overs. The accuracy of the PNG bowlers was relentless, rarely allowing the Cooks batsmen easy deliveries to score from.

Pace bowler Tanya Ruma picked up four wickets and Norma Ovasuru snared three, dismissing their opposition for 47 in the 18th over. In combination with her opening partner Mebo Ipi (23), Ovasuru then struck a quick-fire 18 to secure PNG?s second place position in the tournament and a spot in the semifinals against Samoa.

Speaking after the match, Ovasuru was confident heading into the afternoon's playoff match.

"We have improved from every game we've played and we learned a lot from the close loss to Japan on Tuesday. The girls are determined to be in tomorrow's final and then progress to the next stage of World T20 qualification so we are very focussed for our next match against Samoa."

Brief scores:

Vanuatu 9-69, 20.0 overs (Tarimiala 13, Langiatu 12 not out; Kubota 4-7); defeated by Japan 2-71, 13.0 overs (Yamamoto 29 not out, Miyaji 24 not out; Tarimiala 2-22)
Japan won by 8 wickets

At Kazaa Field: Fiji 6-99, 20.0 overs (Dean 44; Lili?i 2-18, Mauafu 2-22); defeated by Samoa 3-101, 16.0 overs (Chapman 36, Mulitalo 19; Benuci 1-20)
Samoa won by 7 wickets

At Club Hippique: Cook Islands 10-47, 17.3 overs (George 12, Moetaua 12; Ruma 4-17, Ovasuru 3-7); defeated by PNG 1-48, 5.4 overs (Ipi 23 not out, Ovasuru 18 not out; Neale 1-9)
PNG won by 9 wickets