By Madhav Dada 
The very first day of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier concluded with Japan and PNG taking big wins over Philippines and Vanuatu respectively.
Japan vs Philippines:
Japan had won the toss and elected to bat first in the match and in Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming’s 60 runs off 37 deliveries, the team was able to score a total of 166 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the first inning of the match. Amanpreet Sirah took three wickets for Philippines in the match with Miggy Podosky and Liam Myott taking two and 1 wickets respectively.
Philippines responded to the target with 113 runs for the loss of five wickets by the end of the second inning of the match in Jordan Alegra’s 33 runs off 29 deliveries. Piyush Kumbhare took two wickets for Japan in the match with Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Makoto Taniyama and Declan Suzuki taking a wicket each.
Japan won the match by 53 runs.
Vanuatu vs PNG:
The second match of the Qualifier was between Vanuatu and PNG where Vanuatu won the toss and elected to bat first in the match. They made 71 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the first inning of the match. Ronald Tari was the top scoring batter for the team with 21 runs off 34 deliveries. John Kariko took three wickets for Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the match with Norman Vanua and Charles Amini taking two wickets each and Alei Nao taking a wicket in his name.
Papua New Guinea won the match by nine wickets chasing the target by making 75 runs for the loss of one wicket in 6.3 overs. Assad Vala made the most 34 not out runs off 17 deliveries for the team in the match. Patrick Matautaava took a wicket for Vanuatu in the match.
PNG won the match by nine wickets.
Madhavam