Vanuatu cricketers proud despite relegation

Vanuatu have been relegated from World Cricket League Division Four despite finishing with back to back wins in Malaysia.

The Melanesian side saved their best performance for last, chasing down Denmark's 234 for 9 with five balls to spare at the weekend.

Man of the match Patrick Matautaava bagged 3 for 39 with the ball before adding a quick-fire 53 off 42 balls with the bat.

Jonathon Dunn and Joshua Rasu also notched half centuries in a 116-run opening stand.

Vanuatu finished level on points with fourth-placed Jersey but were bumped down into the relegation spots on net run rate.

Coach Shane Deitz, who hit the winning runs against Denmark, was proud of the way his young team grew throughout the week.

"It was a bit of a surprise I think the standard to the boys the first few games and once we got a bit of confidence and realised that we were good enough to play at this level we started playing our best cricket," he said.

"But all in all I've seen lots of positives and we beat a team, Bermuda, who were in the World Cup ten years ago so that's a really big scalp for Vanuatu cricket."

"We're quite a good side, we're a young side and developing which is good for the future," said the 42 year old player/coach.

"If you look at the resources that Malaysia for example have got - they've got a couple of beautiful grounds of net facilities, everything at their disposal - and compared to what we've got in Vanuatu it's absolute chalk and cheese," Deitz said.

"So this achievement from our boys to get to this level and beat a couple of teams and compete against the good teams is an amazing achievement so (I'm a) very proud coach and everyone in Vanuatu should be really proud of the boys."

Uganda and Denmark earned promotion to Division Three, Malaysia and Jersey stay put while Bermuda were also relegated.