Mansale inspires Vanuatu with fine century

Vanuatu captain Andrew Mansale smashed his maiden Pepsi ICC EAP Men's Cricket Trophy century to lead Vanuatu to a strong victory over Tonga at Samoa Gardens on Thursday.

"Joey" was in fine form, playing a superb innings to belt Tonga to all parts of the ground. His 115 included 10 boundaries and three sixes and with the support of Simpson Obed (32), opener Lazarot Carlot (29) and Jonothan Dunn (26), Vanuatu was able to reach a competitive 245.

In reply, Tonga lost an early wicket before captain Aisake Haukinima steadied the ship. Haukinima was dismissed for a quick-fire 21 before middle order batsman Ofahulu played a fantastic lone hand, belting some enormous sixes in the pursuit of quick runs.

With little support, Tonga was eventually dismissed for 140; Ofahulu standing out with a fine 71, 50 of which came from boundaries and sixes.

On Oval #2, Samoan skipper Geoff Clarke won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on a beautiful sunny day.

Clarke and Kaisala put together a solid opening stand of 67, before both fell in quick succession. This brought vice-captain Ron Turner together with Ben Mailata, and the pair began to dismantle the inexperienced Indonesian attack. Their 121-run stand was the catalyst for an assault in the last 10 overs, and the Samoans didn't let the crowd down.

Sipiliano finished the day unbeaten on 41 from just 30 balls, while star all-rounder Faasao smashed the Indonesian attack to finish on 36 from just 11 balls, including five towering sixes.

Samoa posted an exceptional 308, a total that Indonesia was to find extremely difficult against an attack featuring the pace of Faasao, the guile of former New Zealand Test cricketer Murphy Sua and the accuracy of left arm off-spinner Winston Mariner.

However, the Indonesians began superbly, taking it up to the Samoans with some wonderful attacking batting. Openers "Yeri" Rosogna and Silva put together an outstanding opening partnership of 87, with Silva providing the power while Yeri worked the bowlers well to turn the strike.

However, the game turned when Samoan youngster Pritchard Pritchard threw down the stumps from cover finding Silva short of his ground, and from there while the Indonesians battled hard, the huge total proved to be difficult to attain, giving Samoa victory by 87 runs.

On Oval #1, Japanese captain Masaomi Kobayashi won the toss and elected to bat against a fired up Fiji attack. While Japan lost opener Kensuke Kobayashi early, the skipper (27) and wicketkeeper Chino (37) came together and patiently built a platform for which they could launch from later in the innings.

Razzaq (62) provided some lusty hitting late in the innings to push towards the 200 mark, and along with Fuji (28*) and Miyaji (17), eventually set a competitive target of 213 for Fiji.

Fijian opener Bulabalavu fell early on in the chase, and while Baba (27) and Rika (27) were able to steady the innings, the continual loss of wickets made the chase difficult.

Fiji kept pushing, with its running between wickets a feature to keep the match alive, and when Josefa Dabea and Sakaria Lomani came together over a run a ball was required from the final 10 overs.

Dabea (48*) batted superbly under intense pressure while Lomani (41) provided the aggression, however when Lomani fell and wicketkeeper Gauna followed shortly after, Fiji was eventually faced with the task of five runs from three balls.

Number 11 Waqaituinayua swung hard at the next ball, catching a fine edge that raced away to the boundary, leaving Fiji just one run to win, which was brought up on the second last ball of the innings with a huge six over mid-on.