Papua New Guinea on Thursday (October 24) defeated the in-form Netherlands by five wickets in the Group A encounter of the ongoing T20 World Cup global qualifier in Dubai.
Opting to bat first, the Dutch recovered to post a modest 126/7 in 20 overs, with the team's top six batsmen struggling badly before Timm van der Gugten struck a blistering 21-ball 40 not out. Charles Amini (2/24) delivered the stand-out spell for PNG.
In the run-chase, openers Tony Ura (23) and Assad Vala (37) once again got Barramundis off to a flying start. Middle-order batsman Sese Bau (34*) also played a fine hand as PNG reached home quite comfortably at the end. Roelof van der Merwe (2/27) picked up a couple of wickets for the Netherlands.
Brief Scores:
Netherlands 126/7 in 20 overs (Timm van der Gugten 40*; Charles Amini 2/24) lost to Papua New Guinea 127/5 in 19 overs (Assad Vala 37; Roelof van der Merwe 2/27) by five wickets.
In Group B, Nigeria suffered another defeat, this time by five wickets against UAE in Abu Dhabi.
UAE won the toss and opted to bowl first. The hosts got off to a fruitful start as they scalped the Nigerian top-order very cheaply before inexperienced youngsters Chimezie Onwuzulike (46*) and Joseph Adedeji (51) pulled off a painstakingly slow resurrection.
UAE's Junaid Siddique (1/15) and captain Ahmed Raza (1/15) bowled economical spells as Nigeria could reach only as far as 111/3 in 20 overs.
In the run-chase, Zawar Farid played a fantastic knock of 55 runs in 35 balls and allowed his team to breach the 112-run target with ease in less than 13 overs. Nigeria bowler Sylvester Okpe (2/22) picked up a couple of wickets.
Brief Scores:
Nigeria 111/3 in 20 overs (Joseph Adedeji 51; Junaid Siddique 1/15) lost to UAE 112/5 in 12.3 overs (Zawar Farid 55; Sylvester Okpe 2/22) by five wickets.
