2015 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy

The 2015 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Blenheim, New Zealand, from 24–28 February 2015. The tournament was the sixth edition of the EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy, and the first to be held in New Zealand. All matches will be held at Horton Park.

2015 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy

Dates	24 – 28 February 2015
Administrator(s)	ICC East Asia-Pacific
Cricket format	50-over
Host(s)	New Zealand
Champions	Fiji (1st title)
Participants	4
Player of the series	Tadulala Veitacini
Most runs	Delaimatuku Maraiwai (127)
Most wickets	Tadulala Veitacini (13)

The winner of the tournament, Fiji, qualified directly for the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup, to be played in Bangladesh. It was Fiji's first tournament win, and they consequently became only the second ICC East Asia-Pacific side to qualify for the World Cup, with Papua New Guinea having won all previous editions. Papua New Guinea defeated Vanuatu in a playoff to gain entry to the 2015 World Cup Qualifier, with the chance to gain the final spot at the World Cup. Two other East Asia-Pacific under-19 sides, Australia and New Zealand, are ICC full members, and thus qualified directly for the World Cup.

Teams and qualification

Teams were unchanged from the 2013 tournament, played on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.[1]

Team	Mode of qualification
Papua New Guinea	Champion of 2013 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy
Vanuatu	Runner-up in 2013 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy
Fiji	3rd place in 2013 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy
Samoa	4th place in 2013 EAP Under-19 Cricket Trophy

Preparation

Fiji, along with Papua New Guinea the only side to have appeared at every EAP Under-19 Trophy, trained at Buckhurst Park, Suva, with Australian Shane Jurgensen serving as the team's coach for the tournament.[2] The PNG under-19s, nicknamed the Garamuts after a type of slit drum, are to be coached by John Ovia, with assistance from New Zealander Dipak Patel, the coach of the country's senior side.[3] PNG will be captained by Lou Toua, the brother of Olympic weightlifter Dika Toua.[4] Samoa is to be coached by Uala Kaisara, a former Samoan national team player, while Vanuatu will be coached by Shane Deitz.[5]

Fixtures

The tournament incorporated a single round-robin, with each team playing the other once.[6] Fixtures overlapped with the group stages of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, being hosted in Australia and New Zealand at the same time (Blenheim is not hosting any World Cup matches).[7]

After the conclusion of the three-round round-robin, the second and third-place teams (Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu) played off for the right to progress to the 2015 Under-19 World Cup Qualifier. Papua New Guinea won the playoff by 69 runs. On the same day, the first and fourth-place teams (Fiji and Samoa) played a friendly match, which Fiji won by 154 runs. Neither of those matches is included in the table above.[8]

Points table

Team	Pld	W	L	T	NR	Pts
Fiji	3	3	0	0	0	6
Papua New Guinea	3	2	1	0	0	4
Vanuatu	3	1	2	0	0	2
Samoa	3	0	3	0	0	0

Source: CricHQ

Statistics

Most runs

The top five run scorers (total runs) are included in this table.

Player	Team	Runs	Inns	Avg	Highest	100s	50s
Delaimatuku Maraiwai	Fiji	127	4	42.33	100	1	0
Vagi Guba	Papua New Guinea	108	4	36.00	79*	0	1
Peni Volavola	Fiji	94	2	47.00	73	0	1
Maxim Stephen	Vanuatu	89	4	22.25	51	0	1
Clement Tommy	Vanuatu	84	4	21.00	40	0	0

Source: CricHQ

Most wickets

The top five wicket takers, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average, are listed in this table.

Player	Team	Overs	Wkts	Ave	SR	Econ	BBI
Tadulala Veitacini	Fiji	26.2	13	6.38	12.15	3.15	5/18
William Aiga	Papua New Guinea	29.0	9	9.44	19.33	2.93	4/30
Sosiceni Weleilakeba	Fiji	18.0	8	7.50	13.50	3.33	4/17
Jack Dairi	Papua New Guinea	28.2	8	9.88	21.25	2.79	4/12
Lohia Guba	Papua New Guinea	21.5	8	7.63	15.63	2.93	4/11

Source: CricHQ

References

1. East Asia-Pacific Under-19 Championship 2013 Table – CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
2. " National U19's squad begins training" – Cricket Fiji. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
3. Gyana Loku (22 January 2015). "Digicel PNG Under 19 Garamuts Squad Announced for World Cup Qualifying Tournament" – Cricket PNG. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
4. Troy Taule (23 January 2015). "Lou Toua continues the family tradition" Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine – PNG Loop. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
5. Patrick Dawkins (11 February 2015). "Patel to prep PNG for battle" – Marlborough Express. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
6. (5 February 2015). "Squads Announced for Pepsi ICC East Asia-Pacific U19 Trophy" Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine – ICC East Asia-Pacific. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
7. Fixtures, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
8. Rounds, ICC EAP Under 19 Trophy 2015 – CricHQ. Retrieved 28 February 2015.