Papua New Guinea comfortably defeated Japan in the third match of the ICC Women’s World T20 East Asia-Pacific Qualifier earlier today.

Papua New Guinea’s excellent batting performance saw them reach 138-3 from their 20 overs and from there it was an uphill task for the Japanese women.

Japan could only make 60-7 in their innings, but showed good resolve not to be bowled out against a strong Papua New Guinea bowling attack.

Japan’s had restricted Papua New Guinea to 24-0 from the first six overs but a player of the match winning knock of 69 from Tanya Ruma put Papua New Guinea well in ahead.

Ruma hit two big sixes in her innings before a great catch on the boundary by Etsuko Kobayashi ended the onslaught.

Kobayashi’s catch gave Shizuka Miyaji (1-10) a much-deserved wicket. Miyaji’s bowling was one of few positives to take from the performance.

In reply, Openers Kurumi Ota (11) and Miyaji (15) built a steady partnership but were unable to kick on as they tried to catch up with the required run rate.

After Ota and Miyaji fell to some good spin bowling from Vicky Araa (3-9) and Kaia Arua (2-11) respectively, Japan quickly fell to 36-6 after a middle order collapse.

Miho Kanno (5) and Eri Yamaguchi (7) put up a valiant effort to see the innings through but were never close to chasing down Papua New Guinea’s score.

After the match, coach Katrina Keenan said: “There are definitely positives to take out of the performance, despite the result.”

“We started and finished well with the ball but in the middle overs we missed a number of opportunities and at this level you need to take these chances to have a chance of winning.”

The other match today between Samoa and Vanuatu was postponed due to a wet pitch. The match has been rearranged for tomorrow morning from 9.30am.

The defeat leaves Japan bottom of the pile at the half way stage in the tournament. Japan will have a rest day tomorrow before taking on table toppers Samoa on Tuesday morning.