Aussies Take Series 3-0

Tony Suji top scored for Kenya with 85 yesterday, but it was not enough to prevent the visiting CBCE side taking the final match and the series 3-0. While the result was perhaps not a surprise considering the margins of the visitor's victories over the previous two matches, at least Kenya showed signs of general improvement. We still lost by 59 runs, but that is at least a lot closer than 10 wickets and 200 odd runs.

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Batting first, the Australians set a target of 295 for victory with Voges leading the way with an unbeaten 126. None of the bowlers returned particularly good figures, but Nehemiah Odhiambo will be disappointed to have conceded 100 runs from his ten. Still, these matches are there to give the newer players to the team match experience, and he should have learnt a fair bit about what no to do from yesterday's match. Jimmy Kamande had the best figures with 2/53, but Hiren Variaya was the most economical with his 10 overs conceding 34 runs he can be proud of that comeback after getting some rough treatment the day before. All the other bowlers, with the exception of Ongondo, went for 5 or more an over. Even so, this was a better effort than Saturday and Kenya improved their fielding performance by about 100 runs.

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Unfortunately, the reply got off to a bad start as the openers went back to their troubled ways and were out cheaply. Tony Suji at 3 played well for his 85 and should have done enough now to keep his place there and silence his critics for a while at least. I am happy to be proved wrong, and he is one batsman from Kenya who can come out of this series with his head held high. David Obuya replaced his brother Collins in the team and gave Suji good support with his half century. Mishra chipped in with 23, not really what we need from him, but again an improvement on the last match. Odoyo rounded out the batsmen who made runs with a fighting 38, but in the end Kenya ran out of overs and finished on 8/234. Another loss, but at least this time we made over 200 runs and a couple of batsmen made decent scores.

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Kenya's next opponents are Uganda away and it is a series that we must win convincingly. Who the selectors choose will be interesting as it is a great opportunity to try out a couple of new faces before the Bermuda visit in November. It will also be good practice for the players expected to play in the Intercontinental Cup, so we may well see a strong side heading to Kampala. Whoever goes, let's hope they come back with a bundle of wins. Two 3-0 lost series is pretty bitter medecine to have to swallow, however much it may have improved our players.

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SCORECARD:

CBCE innings:
A Crosthwaite..........Ct..K Obuya............Ongondo......0
T. Paine....................Bowled....................Odoyo..........35
A. Voges....................not out.......................................126
A. Finch....................lbw..........................Kamande.....26
C. Ferguson..............Ct..K Obuya............Kamande.......8
G. Gailey...................run out.........................................42
B. Dorey...................Ct..Odhiambo..........T. Suji..........39
C. Bailey....................not out...........................................5
Extras........................(lb-2, nb-6, w-4)..........................12
Total......for 6 wkts, 50 overs........................................293
Did Not bat: G. Sullivan, B. Hilfenhails, D. Doran

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FoW: 1-8 (Crosthwaite), 2-50 (Paine), 3-123 (Finch), 4-143 (Ferguson), 5-222 (G. Bailey) and 2-276 (Sullivan).

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Kenya Bowling:

T. Odoyo..............10-1-57-1

P. Ongondo..........9-0-37-1

N. Odhiambo......10-0-100-0

H. Varaiya............10-?-34-0

J. Kamande..........10-0-53-2

T. Suji...................1-0-12-1

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Kenya innings:
K Obuya...........Ct..Paine............Sullivan..........4
M Ouma..........Ct..Paine............Hilfenhaus......0
T Suji...............Ct..Paine............Doran............85
D Obuya............lbw.....................Dorey............50
T Mishra..........Ct..Doran............Sullivan........23
T Odoyo............Bowled..............Hilfenhaus.....38
J Kamande.......lbw....................Hilfenhaus.......2
N Odhiambo....lbw....................Hilfenhaus.......2
M Patel.............not out.......................................6
P Ongondo.......not out.......................................3
Extras............(nb-3, nb-1, w-16).......................20
Total...for 8 wkts, 50 overs).............................234
Did not bat: H. Varaiya

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FoW: 1-10 (K. Obuya), 2-10 (M. Ouma), 3-115 (D. Obuya), 4-155 (T. Mishra), 5-214 (T. Odoyo), 6-220 (T. Suji), 7-223 (N. Odhiambo) and 8-230 (J. Kamande)

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Bowling:

B.Hilfenhaus................10-2-31-4

G. Sullivan....................8-0-25-1

D. Dorey.......................7-0-27-0

C. Bailey.......................8-0-58-0

D. Doran......................10-0-59-2

A. Voges.........................7-0-31-0

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Umpires: Ebrahim Fidahussein and Rocky D'Mello