The Holiday Inn Resort Vanuatu Men’s and Women’s Teams have beaten Fiji at the Pacific Island Cricket Challenge Semi-Finals on the 17th of March and are through to the grand finals, which will be played on the 18th of March at Albert Park, Suva, Fiji.
The Men’s Team produced a score of 148/9, while Fiji produced 122/9 but fell short of the win by 26 runs.
The Women’s Team then produced a score of 49/4 in 7.1 overs, with Valenta Langiatu, making hattrick wickets, while Fiji produced 48/10 in 16 overs, falling short of the win by 6 wickets.
The Men’s and Women’s Team travelled to Suva, Fiji, on Sunday the 12th and have played five games back-to-back, in order to catch-up after their late arrival due to the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Judy and Kevin.
Despite the tough circumstances the men’s and women's sides have welcomed the challenge, only suffering one loss each, and the men’s team producing record breaking scores in their final round match against Fiji on Thursday.
Nalin Nipiko scored his first-ever century at a T20 international and broke the men’s teams previous record for fastest century scored in a T20, which then aided the team in breaking their highest team total, which was previously 188/6 to 223/5! A true display of Vanuatu’s resilience from our sportsmen and women.
The Grand-Final will be played tomorrow, with the Women’s Team playing at 9AM local time, followed by the Men’s Team at 1PM. Live-streaming is available for both the men’s and women’s matches and links will be shared across the Vanuatu Cricket Association’s social media platforms.