27 Nov 2014

Sport:Fiji earns promotion to World Cricket Leagues

12:00 pm on 27 November 2014

Fiji cricket coach Shane Jurgensen says a full-team effort was behind their promotion back into the World Cricket Leagues.

The Blues thrashed Samoa by nine wickets on Wednesday in their 50-over playoff in Lismore to seal a spot in next year's World Cricket League Division 6 tournament, alongside neighbours Vanuatu.

After being sent into bat the Samoans were in trouble early, with Fred Sapatu unable to repeat his century heroics from the semi final, out for one in the second over.

Captain Ben Mailata was also sent back to the pavillion early, with Samoa reeling at 4-9 after only five overs.

Faasao Mulivai was the only batsman to show any sustained resisitance, top-scoring with 27, as the Samoans were eventually bundled out for 73 inside 24 overs.

Viliame Manakitoga was the pick of the Fiji bowlers, claiming 4-20.

In reply, skipper Joe Rika led from the front, smashing an unbeaten 51 from 31 deliveries, as Fiji romped to their target in only the tenth over.

Fiji coach Shane Jurgensen says the entire squad played a role in their success.

"What's been really exciting for me is that someone somewhere has stepped up. The only games that we slipped were in the Twenty20 tournament when PNG, we had them 4 for 66 and then we sort of let them go a bit there, and only missed out by 20 or so runsm, and we really should have beaten Vanuatu in that game and the rest of the games were absolutely fantastic. It gives us a great launching pad going into 2015 with the World Cricket League. I'm really proud of the boys. There's been a lot of hard work - not just at this tournament but 16 weeks before we arrived here: a lot of early morning sessions, evening sessions - 8-10 sessions a week - they've all trained really well so I'm really proud of them and extremely happy for them."