A thrilling end to the ICC U19 EAP World Cup Qualifier today as all teams came together to watch the finale of the game between Fiji and Samoa. It was the first match of the last day of the tournament and the last to be completed; as Samoa gave a promising chase of Fiji’s 197 runs. The match ended in the 47th over when Samoa were all out with 194 runs and losing by a mere 3 runs. It was a close match and as expected of a Pacific showdown, it went down to the wire.
Dawson Tawake top scored for Fiji with 33 runs while Tineimoli Ropati of Samoa bagged 3 wickets in the first innings. Samoa’s top batter Afapene Ilaoa batted a massive 87 runs off 90 balls while Joeli Qalo ki Moala took 3 wickets and Jazray Browne 2; to launch a Fijian bowling attack at the back-end of the second innings.
Fiji ended the tournament on third place behind New Zealand and Japan. New Zealand as winner of the EAP qualifier automatically qualifies for the ICC U19 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka in 2024.
As usual NZ and Australia always use the Pacific nations to get an easy way through to world cups, etc. Happens in almost all team sports..