Kenya beat Canada by four wkts

Today, in the battle of the minnows, Kenya faced off against Canada in Nairobi. After winning the toss, Kenya invited Canada to have a bat first on a pitch that didn?t look bad for batting.

However, Keyna were immediately rewarded for their strategy when Elijah Otieno removed the Canadian opener Mohammad Iqbal in the second over. Trevin Bastiampillai came next, and after a circumspect start, he was run out in the eight over. The middle order batsman Ashif Mulla, and the Canadian opener Abdul Jabbar then put on a good partnership in quick time before Mulla was out in the 13th over, and the score was 89/3.

The Canadian batsmen went into a shell but were unable to stop the quick flow of runs, and lost a further three wickets for just 40 runs, and at 131/6, were set to be bowled out for less than 200. However, Jason Patraj and Arvind Kandappah put on a 49 run partnership in 14 overs and brought Canada back into contention. There were still nine overs to go, and Canada wanted to make sure they batted through their innings. Unfortunately, that did not happen and Canada were bowled out with 9 balls to spare, but they still reached a defendable 230, largely thanks to the 49 run partnership between Patraj and Kandappah.

Keyna started the reply well, reaching 31/0 after five overs. But disaster struck as Kenya lost five wickets in the next five overs, including their main weapon: Steve Tikolo. Umar Bhatti was the chief architect of the collapse, taking three of those wickets. Kenya were
49/5, and a target of 231 seemed a long way away. However, a fantastic partnership of 80 runs between Thomas Odoyo and Alex Obanda brought them back into contention. Odoyo was playing particularly well, and just needed support from the other end. Jimmy Kamande provided that support, and Kenya eased to a four wicket victory with eight balls to spare. The star was undoubtedly Odoyo, as he made an almost chanceless unbeaten maiden century under extreme pressure to lead his side to victory.

Canada 230 (48.3 overs)
AL Kandappah 69*
Abdul Jabbar

LN Onyango 3/29
N Odhiambo 2/45

Kenya 233/6 (48.4 overss)
TM Odoyo 111*
MA Ouma 33*

U Bhatti 3/19
D Soraine 1/23

Keyna won by four wickets.
CW Player of the Match Thomas Odoyo