Papua New Guinea hosted Namibia over the last four days in the first ever first-class match played in Papua New Guinea. It was the hosts who finished the game as winners, with captain Asad Vala recording his third first-class century in four games.
The home side won the toss on the opening day, with Vala choosing to bat first. It was the skipper who played the anchor role in that first innings, with no partnership of substance occurring until John Reva joined Vala at the fall of the seventh wicket.
The pair put on 95 for the eighth wicket before Reva became the fourth victim of left arm spinner Bernard Scholtz in the 90th over. Norman Vanua was bowled by Scholtz later in the over, and Vala batted out the remaining three overs in the day to take the PNG total to 294-9, with Vala unbeaten on 136.
Another 17 runs were added on the second morning, with Vala reaching 144 - the highest of his three first-class centuries. The home side would find themselves batting again before the day was out, as Namibia proceeded to be bowled out for just 146.
nly two Namibian batsmen - Sarel Burger with 52 not out and JJ Smit with 23 - were able to reach double figures, with Norman Vanua and Lega Siaka both taking three wickets for the hosts. Papua New Guinea opted not to enforce the follow on, and scored 4 in 2.4 overs before play ended for the day.
Papua New Guinea didn't have anyone play the anchor role Vala played in the first innings, with Vani Morea top scoring with 61. Bernard Scholtz was again the pick of the Namibian bowlers, taking 6-65 as PNG were bowled out for 189 in 57 overs, setting Namibia a target of 355.
Namibia soon showed that the target was beyond them when they lost their first four wickets for just 14 runs, Norman Vanua taking three of those first four wickets. They nearly lost within three days when they found themselves on 91-8, but Wian van Vuuren and Bernard Scholtz hung on until the end of the day, seeing Namibia to 112-8 at close.
They proved stubborn on the final morning, taking the score to 140 before Scholtz was removed by Lega Siaka. Number 11 Colin Peake was also removed by Siaka four overs later - taking his haul to four wickets - and Namibia were bowled out for 155, losing by 199 runs.
The match completed the fourth round of fixtures in the Intercontinental Cup, with Ireland out in front with a full 80 points. Papua New Guinea sit in fourth place on 40 points, whilst Namibia are in seventh on 20 points, ahead of only UAE, who have just 7 points.
Only one confirmed fixture for the fifth round has been announced so far, with Afghanistan hosting Ireland in Greater Nodia in India. Papua New Guinea are set to play the UAE in that round, whilst Namibia will be playing Scotland. Hong Kong v Netherlands will round out the fifth round of matches.
Before then though, Papua New Guinea and Namibia will play two World Cricket League Championship matches in Port Moresby on Friday and Sunday.