Brian Bell were crowned the kings of the SP Super Series Twenty-20 after a courageous two wicket win and five balls to spare victory over Telikom Titans at the Amini Park on Sunday April 27.
Wicket keeper and man of the match Ipi Morea led by example when the 25 year old from Hanuabada made a handy 32 runs (not out) along with fast medium pacer Paul Tianna’s valuable 8 runs.
Needing 12 runs in the last two overs under rainy conditions Morea stood up to the occasion and bravely fought Titan’s unmerciful bowlers.
Earlier Titans won the toss and elected to bat with opener Jeremiah Nigani top scoring with 84 runs and looked very dangerous from the onset blasting as many boundaries as possible including a couple of classic sixes.
Brian Bell all rounder Joel Tom broke the ice when the 19 year old cleaned bowled Nigani giving a glimmer of hope to his side to chase the target.
In reply Brian Bell got off to a blistering start with PNG U19 world cup opening batsman Tanti Heni leaving no stones unturned with a brilliant 34 runs which included two massive sixes.
When Heni was starting to get the proceedings going Titans veteran Jimmy Maha who was brought into the attack at the sixth over got him out with his tricky spin bowling.
Peter Moide’s 35 runs was the other major contributor to their win but unfortunately the Taroa batsman was stumped sending a worrying signal to the Brian Bell camp.
Greg Baeau (5/28) nearly wrapped up the entire match when he got Arina Lahari and Joel Tom out for duck but missed the opportunity for a hat trick on Paul Tianna when Moses Joseph dropped his catch at long off.
But with the rain making it difficult for the bowl to find its line Ipi Morea and Paul Tianna made use of it to hit as many balls as they could to get them the twenty-20 title.
In the 3rd and 4th playoff Tony Ura (50) and Frank Doura (32) laid the foundation for their first ever SP Super Series twenty-20 win Trukai Invincible.
Ura just faced 29 balls to make his half century while Doura needed only 18 runs to make his presence felt.
The Invincibles had no answer to Steamships Hardware’s clever thinking batting compared to their fielding earlier on which was later described by captain Chris Amini as needing more practice on this week.
Steamships Hardware middle order William Harry (16 not out) and Daniel Alu ( 4 not out) rescued their side with a five wicket and four overs to spare.
The best bowler of the series was won by Brian Bell all rounder Joel Tom while Telikom Titans Assad Vala won the best batsman of the series.
Last Modified on 05/05/2008 12:47