The Kumul Petroleum Lewas have been in Abu Dhabi for the past two weeks competing in the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
They unfortunately missed out on the semi finals after a close loss to Thailand which left them to fight it out in the repechage rounds.
They first met the USA in the 7th place play off and had a comfortable 7 wicket win with 9 overs to spare.
USA batted first and could only manage 76/9 as the Lewas bowling attack dominated, Vicky Ara’a 3/13, Ravini Oa 3/20 and Sibona Jimmy 2/1 all bowling very well.
In response the Lewas batting was led by player of the match, Sibona Jimmy, with 33 (30) and Tanya Ruma continuing her good form with 22 at a run a ball.
Brenda Tau and Kaia Arua finishing off the dominate run chase in the 11th over.
The Kumul Petroleum Lewas were then elevated to the fifth place play off with Scotland.
The Scots won the toss and elected to bat, they amassed a very competitive 168/6 thanks to a masterful innings from their skipper, Kathryn Bryce 63 (47) who was well supported by opener Saskia Horley with 44 (32).
The Lewa bowling attack was again led by Oa and Jimmy with two wickets each.
The Kumul Petroleum Lewas went about the chase with their most competent batting display of the qualifiers to date.
An opening stand of 52 by Jimmy (26) and Naoani Vare (22) set up the chase brilliantly before Tanya Ruma and Brenda Tau blasted past the total with 8 balls to spare and an emphatic 8-wicket victory.
Ruma finishing 63 not out off just 31 balls including eight fours and two sixes, and Tau not out 41 off 31 balls including four fours.
Player of the match, Tanya Ruma was outstanding for the Lewas throughout the qualifiers finishing the tournament as one of leading run scorers.
Coach Hempenstall was proud of the team “ It was great to finish so strongly, they completely dominated the US team and then when faced with a challenging total tonight, they were clinical.
As a group we are disappointed not to qualify for the World Cup, we got better as the tournament went on.
With a first up loss to full member nation Zimbabwe we were immediately under pressure, then we were a little off our game against Thailand.
But full credit to the team after those results 5th was the highest we could achieve, they played well in the repechage rounds, very proud of their efforts.”
“ We will take a lot of confidence out of this tournament; we now head to Brisbane for a PacificAus Sports supported High Performance Camp at the Cricket Australia National Academy before playing the Pacific Cup in Vanuatu in Early October.”
The Qualifiers were won by Bangladesh over Ireland with both countries qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe finished 3rd with Thailand rounding out the top four.