A Great Team Effort

Yesterday Kenya exacted some revenge on Canada by trouncing them in the first of two Ond Day Internationals. Captain Steve Tikolo won the toss and elected to bat, a brave move considering the tribulations of the opening pair up until now. True to form, it took Brijal Patel a painful 17 deliveries to make only 6 runs before falling to Osinde, caught Davison. Luckily his opening partner, Kennedy Obuya, was able to do better and put on a further 55 runs with Jimmy Kamande before he too made his way back to the pavilion. Though a great improvement from his pair in the Intercontinental Cup, Obuya still has a way to go to prove he is still the man for the job. Hopefully his time in the middle will have helped play him back into form and he will do even better tonight. Obuya's dismissal brought Steve Tikolo to the crease and assisted by Kamande, Kenya added a further 73 runs before the latter was caught.

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Jimmy Kamande (68) can really stand tall after his effort with the bat. Replacing Tony Suji at 3, he not only top scored in the Kenyan innings, but achieved a personal milestone by notching up his first ever ODI half century. His innings also spanned the two biggest partnerships for Kenya and was instrumental in setting the platform for the rest of the batsmen. His strike rate of 64% was not lightning quick, but under the circumstances, Kenya will not mind that. In the second partnership with Tikolo, Kenya were able to up the run rate thanks to the skipper's almost run-a-ball fifty: his second in consecutive innings for Kenya.

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Collins Obuya came in at five, but was unable to continue his form from the Intercontinental Cup and was out for 19 off 24. The next batsman in, Tanmay Mishra again showed why we should play him further up the batting order where he can be more effective. Coming in with only 10 overs to go he lasted until the very last over before becoming Thuraisingam's third victim, but not before he had crafted a brilliant 38 off 27 balls. It should be noted here that he did not need to take the agricultural approach and only 12 of his runs came off boundaries. While Kamande's innings set the platform for the innings, it was Mishra's efforts that took advantage of it. Who knows what he could score if he came in a little earlier on.

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Canada finished their fielding effort with a burst of cheap wickets at the death as Kenya's tail tried to go for quick runs. In the end however it didn't matter - what the Kenyan bowlers lacked with the bat, they more than made up for with the ball. Like the batting effort, there were several good performances rather than one standout, and this is fantastic to see from the team's perspective. Peter Ongondo kept intact his record of taking a wicket every game he has played for Kenya this year by taking the first two and should be more than satisfied with his 2/24 off 7. Thomas Odoyo has perhaps surprisingly been the least effective of Kenya's faster bowlers this tour, but removing Barnett, who had made the century in the Intercontinental Cup, was an important wicket. He finished with 1/33 off 6. Nehemiah Odhiambo continued his run of form taking the first ODI wicket of his career. He also finished with good figures: 1/19 off 5 including a maiden. Kenya's spin attack was a combination of our most experienced player and our newest cap and both performed admirally. Steve Tikolo backed up his 50 with the bat by taking 2/14 at an economy rate of 2.62, but it was debutante Hiren Variaya who was the pick of the bowlers with 3/24 off 9 overs. Real credit to him this tour as he has really stepped up and delivered.

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Thanks to the bowlers, Canada never really looked in the hunt after about the third wicket, and Kenya were able to close out the match with 12 overs still left to play. Not only did we get some of our own back, but did it emphatically too, winning by 108 runs. We may be out of contention for the Intercontinental Cup, but out ODI position is still safe for the moment. Today Canada will have another crack at us and we need to make sure that we beat them again. We have a really tough series at home against Bangladesh coming up, and need to go into that with two wins from two matches against the weaker opposition.

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I would expect a largely unchanged line up for the second match today with the one exception being Timothy Muange coming in for Brijal Patel. He was taken as a stand in opener, and it seems a waste not to use him when the position still needs someone to make it theirs. He can hardly do worse than Patel this tour, and who knows, it could be the catalyst he needs to make the step up. Maybe Mishra could come in higher up as well, though I hesitate at suggesting too many changes to what ended up as a winning combination. I would really love to see him get a fifty (or more) and he has a greater chance of doing this when he is not under pressure at the end of an innings.

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Congratulations again to the team for yesterday's win and let's hope they can give us more of the same today.

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Kenya vs. Canada 1st ODI 05/08/06 Full Scorecard (cricinfo)