Teams Touch Down in Samoa

After several flight cancellations and significant lost luggage, all six participating teams in the Pepsi ICC East Asia-Pacific Division 2 Trophy have finally touched down in Samoa ready for the tournament that kicks off tomorrow.

Both Indonesia and the Republic of Korea were late arrivals due to flight cancellations, and the Philippines discovered after their 35 hour journey that 12 bags containing the squads personal items had been lost in transit.

Despite all of the unexpected challenges, the teams remain focused on the job ahead and Philippines captain Faisal Khan believes the disruptions in preparation have actually brought his side closer together.

"At the moment the boys have virtually no clothes and one of our team members did not even brush his teeth for a couple of days," he said. "However I think it is making the team stronger, and it's good for them because now the boys are sharing each other's underwear so that is good for the team."

The Philippines have impressed in the lead up with victories over two Samoan club sides and a 2 wicket confidence building win over the Cook Islands on Saturday.

Despite the loss the Cook Islands will still be confident of a good result after performing strongly in their previous warm up matches in New Zealand and coming close to the Philippines despite performing below the high standards they set for themselves.

The Republic of Korea completed their first training session in the hot humid conditions of Apia early on Sunday, and after a victory in their warm up match against New Caledonia in New Zealand last week they have high hopes of making an impact in their first International tournament.

Indonesia also completed a gruelling training session on Sunday in an attempt to simulate the stamina that will be required when teams play two matches per day starting Monday local time, and with one of the youngest squads participating in the tournament this sort of experience may prove vital to their success.

Tonga has kept quiet in the lead up in an attempt to fly under the radar and catch their opponents off guard. Whether this tactic will work remains to be seen and the well drilled Cook Islands outfit stands in their way of a victory in round one of the competition.

Hosts Samoa have put the weight of the countries expectations aside and are focused on working together on cricket fundamentals to ensure they give themselves the best chance possible to come away with some silverware.

"We've been planning for 6 to 9 months for this tournament," said Samoan coach Murphy Sua. "We have been focusing on the basics like bowling straight, batting straight and fielding nicely."

"You look at Vanuatu and how far they have come in such a short time and it's by focusing on the basics and obviously PNG do it the best in the region and that is our aim," said Sua.

The tournament begins at 9:30am local time on Monday 4 April.