The Samoa women's cricket team scored a win over Papua New Guinea at the Pacific Games on Thursday.

Papua New Guinea (P.N.G.) batted and scored 74 with Samoa needing to chase 75 runs to claim victory.

But the girls in blue prevailed in the second innings with a total of 78 runs to beat P.N.G. by six wickets, building on their success at the 2015 edition of the Pacific Games when they also beat P.N.G. in the final. 

The match attracted a crowd of local and regional supporters, who witnessed Team Samoa's run to victory over the highly fancied Papua New Guineans.

This win did not surprise the spectators, who saw the team's previous match against Fiji, where they won by seven wickets in their final game of the first round on Wednesday afternoon.

Lily Sinei Mulivai, of Team Samoa, told the Samoa Observer that she felt good about the match.

"I think we were a lot more positive this time around, we really played to our strengths and kept things simple."

The allrounder attributed Thursday's victory to teamwork and the partnerships that with forged between the team-mates. 

She said the team brought home the gold medal four years ago and now look set to repeat history. 

"Every game we play is important and we're here to do our part and follow our game plan, and that's all to win that gold medal."

She wished her team the best in their efforts to be at the top of the podium this Saturday for the cricket medal ceremonies. 

Lily Mulivai is from the villages of Falefa, Faleapuna, Moataa and Satuimalufilufi. 

On Wednesday Fiji won the toss against Samoa and chose to bat first to start off their match. 

While both teams put on a good match, the final score had Fiji at 71 runs with Samoa closing out the match at 75 runs to win by 7 wickets.

Team Samoa vice-captain, Lagi Otila Telea, says that their goal was to play for gold and having the home ground advantage surrounded by supporters compelled them to win. 

“Our batting was not so good today and our wickets as well, they’re some things we need to work on. I’m happy for our team and the win but we will definitely work on some things before our next game, to really get us that gold.”

Marica Vua of Team Fiji said it was a fair game. 

“We really did our best, we put our best efforts in there, but Team Samoa put on an exciting game, and I’m still proud of our girls.”

Ms. Vua was one of the best Fijian players on the field from the Wednesday match with a score of 2 wickets and 14 runs.

Regina Lili’i and Taalili Iosefo of Team Samoa were awarded best batter and bowler respectively for the match with Lili’i at 43 runs and Iosefo with 5 wickets and 4 overs.