Day three of the East Asia Pacific Trophy saw the commencement of the 50 over section of the tournament with the sides split into two groups. Division one features Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Japan, the countries embedded in the World Cricket League. Vanuatu, Samoa, Cook Islands, Indonesia and Tonga are in Division two battling it out for the coveted WCL Division 8 place.

In Division one Fiji were in a good position early on to inflict a rare defeat upon traditional rivals Papua New Guinea.

After 11 overs PNG were in awful trouble at 43-6 before a rain break brought a temporary halt to the carnage. It was a surprise to see PNG's batsmen struggle after such a dominant display in the 20/20 matches but this is perhaps Fiji's best squad since the 2005 World Cup Qualifiers. They are without doubt, the most experienced combination in this competition.

Wicketkeeper Arua Dikana offered more fight after the delay scoring 39 as PNG clawed their way to 117 all out which at least gave their excellent quicks something to work with. Sakaraia Lomani was the best of the bowlers with 4-32. Sure enough, the Fijians found the pace attack tricky to negotiate and slumped to 27-6. Captain Jo Sorovakatini and youngster Viliame Yabaki then added 50 runs before Sorovakatini was given out lbw to Chris Amini for 47. The last three wickets fell for a mere five runs leaving Fiji 27 short of the revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 109. Pipi Raho, playing his first 50 over international for PNG, took 5-19 and Loa Nou also bowled superbly to snare four wickets.

In Division two Indonesia started solidly in their game against Cook Islands and were 48-1 after 15 overs when the rain came. The progressed steadily to be 109-4 after 30 overs but in a day of batting collapses, then lost 13 for 6 in five overs. Cook Islands chased down the target in just 25 overs. Tino Etita was the star for Cook Islands with 42 and 4-20. Indonesia's bowlers conceded 30 runs in wides.

In the other Division two game, Samoa, the team most likely to challenge Vanuatu for top spot, had progressed to 52-1 in 10 overs batting first versus Tonga before the downpour. After the break Samoa fell into a heap, losing 9 wickets for just 76 runs with Ron Turner top scoring on 27. An upset looked likely but the Samoan bowlers started brilliantly to have Tonga 47-4 in 13 and 59-8 shortly after. Youngsters Aloisio Pau'u and Maku Valu inched the total up to 81 but Winston Mariner dismissed Valu and Dean Seuoti bowled Pau'u within the space of a few minutes giving Samoa victory by 47 runs. Seuoti (3-9), Lautala Fuimoana (3-25) and Faasao Mulivai (3-43) were outstanding for Samoa.

Division 1

PNG 117 (Arua Dikana 38, Sakaraia Lomani 4-32) defeated Fiji 80 (Jo Sorovakatini 47, Pipi Raho 5-18, Loa Nou 4-13)

Division 2

Samoa 128 (Ron Turner 27, Simione Latu 3-22) defeated Tonga 81 (Dean Seuoti 3-9, Lautala Fuimoana 3-25, Faasao Mulivai 3-43)

Indonesia 122 (Ajantha Thenuwara 67, Tino Etita 4-20, Davis Teinaki 3-6) lost to Cook Islands 129-3 (Tino Etita 42, Chris Brown 22*)

Vanuatu and Japan had byes. Tomorrow is the scheduled rest day.