25 Feb 2014

Sport: Batting woes surface again for PNG Garamuts

12:37 pm on 25 February 2014

Batting has again proved Papua New Guinea's downfall in a 77 run defeat by Scotland at the Under 19 Cricket World Cup.

It's the Garamuts fifth straight defeat at the World Cup and second against the Scots. who also beat them in pool play.

Nosaina Pokana was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 27 as Scotland were all out for 209.

But despite five players reaching double figures, no batsmen was able to go on to a big score and PNG were dismissed for 132.

Coach Rarua Dikana admits it's a recurring problem.

"Our batting has been our issue all of this tournament. I thought in this game our bowlers bowled well. The Scots were travelling pretty well and to stop them at 209 runs was a pretty big effort from the bowlers. Batsmen - they get a start and then throw away their wicket. We've been harping on [about] going on to score big runs but the boys just lack concentration in their innings and just give their wickets away".

PNG's final match of the tournament is a playoff against Canada for 15th place, to avoid the wooden spoon.