Papua New Guinea vs Philippines, ICC Mens T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifier 2023, Today Match Prediction 28 July 2023

png vs phi Match Prediction & Analysis

Unbeaten Papua New Guinea will take on Philippines for the second time this season at Amini Park in Port Moresby. 

Papua New Guinea’s bowling has been exceptional and they’ve dominated every opposition they’ve played so far. Philippines were already humbled by PNG the last time these two teams locked horns.

Soon after that, Philippines went on to beat Vanuatu by 6 wickets as they successfully chased down a 98-run target. It took them 17.4 Overs to reach the target and that doesn’t really reflect well on the potential of this batting lineup.

There are no consistent or reliable batters in the Philippines' batting lineup. PNG, on the other hand, are coming into this game with a bowling attack that has all the players in great form and delivering breakthroughs consistently.

Papua New Guinea have a clear upper hand in this contest. Not only has the skipper found his form at number 3, but Norman Vanua has also stepped up to deliver as a finisher in the lower order.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Papua New Guinea Preview

Papua New Guinea are cruising at the moment with 4 back to back wins and dominating the EAP Qualifier 2023. The number 2 team in the points table, Japan who have 3 wins from 4 matches also crumbled against PNG.

There seems to be no one in this tournament who can even trouble Papua New Guinea let alone defeat them. While there is still a lot to improve in terms of batting, there are some who have been consistent and leading the team to decent totals in every game.

Asad Vala and Charles Amini will be the key batters for PNG at 3 and 4. The skipper would be expecting the opener Tony Ura to continue delivering a good start at the top as he’s done in the last few games.

Lega Siaka is someone who’s struggled to find runs and even after being promoted to number 4 in the last game, failed to make any significant impact. Hiri Hiri and Norman Vanua in the lower order are other key batters to watch out for in this lineup.

The two can deliver a good finish for PNG. However, the biggest strength of the PNG setup is their bowling attack. John Kariko, Norman Vanua, and Charles Amini will be leading this attack and are among the key wicket-takers.

Papua New Guinea Predicted Playing XI:

Tony Ura, Kiplin Doriga (wk), Assad Vala (c), Lega Siaka, Sese Bau, Hiri Hiri, Norman Vanua, Charles Amini, John Kariko, Alei Nao, Semo Kamea

Philippines Preview

Philippines haven’t crossed the 100-run mark in their last 3 outings. While it wasn’t up to them in their game against Vanuatu where they were chasing a 98-run target, but the run chase wasn’t a comfortable one and definitely not how a T20 run-chase looks like.

Kepler Lukies, Daniel Smith, Amanpreet Sirah, and Huzaifa Mohammed all picked 2 wickets each as they bowled out Vanuatu for 97 runs. There is some potential in this bowling attack but in their last game against PNG, they were all expensive except Kepler Lukies.

The biggest concern, however, would be the poor batting performances. After their win over Vanuatu, Lukies continued his bowling form, and though wicketless against Japan, he delivered a very economical spell to help restrict the opposition to just 127 runs.

A 128-run target shouldn’t have been a big ask for Philippines but they finished with 94-5 from their 20 Overs. Grant Russ, the top batsman for Philippines scored 45 off 52 balls opening for the team.

In the middle-order skipper Daniel Smith continues to struggle with his strike rate while others like Joseph Doctora aren’t any promising either. And while Miggy Podosky delivers a handy knock at times, he isn’t a reliable match finisher lower down the order.

Philippines Predicted Playing XI:

Arshdeep Samra, Grant Russ (wk), Josef Doctora, Daniel Smith (c), Miggy Podosky, Gurbhupinder Chohan, Kepler Lukies, Hernie Ma Isorena, Amanpreet Sirah, Liam Myott, Huzaifa Mohammed

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch is a balanced one where the bowlers have performed exceptionally well in recent matches. The batters many not find it easy to score and need time to settle down before they can shift gears. There will be isolated thunderstorms on the match day with a high of 31 degrees Celsius.

Venue Details

Amini Park will be the venue for this match as it has been for all other games in this Qualifier tournament. The average 1st innings score here is 123 runs and considering the batting form of Philippines, even a 130-140 runs total would be a match-winning score if PNG bat first. However, Philippines would need to cross the 140-run mark if they are to put PNG under pressure in the run chase.

Toss: To Bat

While Papua New Guinea can restrict Philippines to a low total and chase it down, batting first would be their preferred choice as it allows all their batters some game time. Philippines aren’t in a position where they can opt to bowl first and chase anything over 120 runs. Batting first would be their choice as well.