The Women’s Japan National Team were second best in all departments to a Papua New Guinea team that have responded powerfully to their surprise opening day defeat in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier 2023.

After winning the toss and choosing the bat, Japan were in trouble from the start as form batter Erika Oda fell without scoring. Haruna Iwasaki struck two boundaries early on and looked to be finding some form, but her run-out severely damaged the hopes and aspirations of the team.

Suddenly, Japan were five wickets down for just 28 runs, but a partnership of 33 between Kurumi Ota (20*) and Hinase Goto (9) showed fight after the troubles of the first ten overs. Ultimately, Japan would finish on 63 for seven, which was never likely to be enough against a team ranked 11th in the world, a huge 44 places higher than Japan.

Ahilya Chandel was able to land a solitary blow with the ball as PNG raced to the target in the ninth over, with nine wickets to spare, which gave their net run rate enough of a boost to leapfrog Japan in the table.

Elsewhere, Indonesia, after arriving three days late due to travel delays, have made a flying start with three big wins and now tops the table ahead of hosts Vanuatu, who have also won all their matches so far. PNG and Japan also have six points, but Japan now sits fourth on net run rate, while Fiji have recorded one win and Samoa and Cook Islands have each lost all four matches they have played.

Wednesday 6th will be a rest day, and on Thursday Japan will take on Indonesia in a morning game before finishing against hosts Vanuatu on Friday afternoon.

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Match Schedule (Japan Time):

• Friday 1 September – Cook Islands vs Japan, 07:30
• Saturday 2 September – Japan vs Samoa, 11:30
• Monday 4 September – Fiji vs Japan, 11:30
• Tuesday 5 September – Papua New Guinea vs Japan, 07:30
• Thursday 7 September – Indonesia vs Japan, 07:30
• Friday 8 September – Vanuatu vs Japan, 11:30

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Women’s National Team Partner

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Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. specialized in providing services and products related to ICT (information and communication technology). Partnering with various global ICT vendors and supporting more than 1,500 companies, MKI offers best-in-class solutions to customers.

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