GAME COULD BE KENYA'S - IF THEY TAKE THEIR CHANCES

My apologies for the lateness of this post. Topspinner writes from Eglinton with the report from day 3 of Kenya's Intercontinental Cup match vs Ireland:

THE game was on a knife-edge as play began today on the final day of the Intercontinental Cup match between Ireland and Kenya at Eglinton, Northern Ireland.

Ireland yesterday (Sun) seized six points through a first innings lead of 73 after Kenya's last four wickets added 92 to their Saturday overnight score of 239 for 6, thereby avoiding the follow-on.
Vice-captain Jimmy Kamande batted sensibly to make 73 and some lusty blows allowed Peter Ongondo to register a valuable 24 not out. Former vice-captain Thomas Odoyo made 46 well-worked runs before a blow to the elbow pulled him up short, while Nehemiah Odhiambo made 14 and Elijah Otieno was out for two.

Kenya appeared pleased to have restricted Ireland to a 73-run lead in this high-scoring match and this showed, particularly in the six overs they bowled up to lunch. Odoyo and Ondongo both showed venom, but it was former captain Steve Tikolo who snapped up first innings century-maker Paul Stirling for six just before the break, to have Ireland in some jitters on 6 for 1 off six overs at lunch. These jitters continued afterwards and from 25 overs Ireland appeared to be in some trouble at 45 for 3.

But then a series of catches went down - two difficult, two less so - and had it not been for a sharp take behind by captain and wicketkeeper Morris Ouma off Odhiambo on 89 to get rid of the dangerous kevin O'Brien for 21 the match would certainly have been running away from Kenya. As it was, a further 50 without loss were added to the Ireland total, with a half-century from Alex Cusack, before stumps, leaving Ireland 212 ahead.

Ireland go into today's final day feelimng they can win; but this newly-led and invigorated Kenya side is full of spirit and they know that, if they can bag a couple of early wickets, the game could be theirs.
'Topspinner'.

Photo - Maurice Ouma seems to be making a good start as Kenyan Captain. courtesy of Cricket Europe

Kenya lose first warm up game

Kenya went down by 48 runs in their first warm up match against a Titans second string side in Pretoria yesterday.

Batting first, Titans lost opener R Jappie to Thomas Odoyo for just 10 on the board, but then continued to build solid partnerships with M Sekota (57), P Matan (54 off 49) and especially D Weisie (90* off 56) all taking a liking to the Kenyan bowlers.

Pick of the Kenyan bowlers was the pair of Thomas Odoyo (2/40 off 9) and Hiren Varaiya (2/49 off 9).
Jimmy Kamande (1/42 off 9)was probably next best and was the only other Kenyan bowler to take wickets with run outs accounting for Titans other 2 dismissals in their total of 292/7.
Neither Steve Tikolo (0/22 off 5) nor Peter Ongondo (0/28 off 5) took wickets, but at least they were tidy. the same cannot be said for Rajesh Bhudia (0/35 off 4) and Nehemiah Odhiambo (0/75 off 9) who both came in for some heavy treatment from their hosts. Kenyan fans will be hoping they find their radar before the World Cup qualifiers start on April 1st.

Kenya's reply contained several promising starts, but no one other than Jimmy Kamande was able to convert that into a bigger score. Morris Ouma, returned to opener, fell on 47, fellow opener Kennedy Obuya made 26 off 28, Seren Waters tried at 3 made 16, Steve Tikolo contributed 20 and Collins Obuya 38. Only Kamande, who was last man out off the final ball looked like he was capable of chasing down the score and perhaps he could have made it had he come in above Obuya. As it was he can be proud of what was clearly the stand out effort in the Kenyan side with 62 off 49 deliveries. Kenya closed their innings on 244/9.

In context, this was just a warm up game, but it certainly does nothing to dispel any of the worries fans might have had going into the WC Qualifiers where the competition should be stiffer. Hopefully this is just a case of the boys blowing the dust off before they settle down to serious business.

Getting it together at the right time

Having narrowly lost their first warm up game to the Windies, Kenya were able to hold on to an even closer game against the Dutch in their final run before the World Cup starts in earnest against Canada on March 14th (15th if you are in Australia like me).
.
In both matches, Kenya scored in the region of 250 - a score seen by many as par for many of the new pitches in the West Indies. This is a very positive sign for Steve Tikolo's men as it shows that the batting is continuing to improve and importantly that players are finding form and building partnerships. In the 2 warm up games, the following batsmen have made decent scores:
Shah (41 v WI)
Tikolo (34 & 51)
Collins Obuya (54* & 33)
Suji (47 v NED)
Odoyo (73 v NED)
Basically, the middle order look like they are doing their job well, especially the combination of Odoyo and Obuya (and to a lesser extent Suji and Kamande) in the final overs.
.
A slight worry is still the opening pair. They did fantastically well in Nairobi and were a big reason that Kenya was able to win the WCL, but Ouma (10 & 4) and David Obuya (7 & 13) have not had great warm up games. They have both proved to themselves and everyone else in the past few months that they are capable of making decent scores and if Kenya are to cause an upset, they must rise to the occasion and provide the middle order with a decent platform.
.
Tanmay Mishra (22 & 4) has also not been his reliable self, but is of a class where he should be able to step up once the Cup proper starts. He scored a match winning 62 against the Canadians in Nairobi during the WCL, so can hopefully repeat that performance or go better when the teams face off in a couple of days time.
.
With the runs given to Malhar Patel and Tony Suji, it has looked as though the team have experimented with slotting in an extra batsman at number 4 and moving the rest down one which is interesting. So far, the batting has looked fairly solid, but we have on both occasions failed to bowl the opposition out. Bringing in Suji - he performed best out of the two, will be at the expense of a bowler and is this something Kenya can afford?
.
Leaving out Suji and the bowler for the moment, the team looks like this:
Ouma
D Obuya
Shah
Tikolo
Mishra
Odoyo
C Obuya
Ongondo
Varaiya
.
There will need to be a third seamer which will be between Odhiambo (the most likely on performances in the warm ups), Onyango (who has been expensive) and Bhudia (who has not bowled enough to suggest he is likely to play).
.
If we assume Odhiambo gets the nod - he also gives the option of a quick scoring bat, the battle for the final place is then between Suji - a batsman and Kamande - a spinning all-rounder.
This is a tricky decision. Suji has played well with the two chances he has been given making 16* batting at 9 against the Windies and 47 batting at 4 against the Dutch. Kamande has only had the one chance with the bat - a quickfire unbeaten 19 against the Dutch. Bowling wise, he went for 6 an over against the Netherlands, so one would initially think Suji would get the nod going purely on his batting form. This would however leave Kenya with only 5 bowlers, and against good batting sides, this is a big gamble. It means that there is no one Tikolo can turn to if one of them is getting a belting, a definite possibility with the likes of Pietersen and Taylor looming.
.
Importantly, Kamande is a spinner and there are two reasons why this is in his favour. First, the pitches in the West Indies seem to be holding up to expectations and taking spin well. Going into a game with three spinners capable of stifling runs and taking wickets would give Kenya an edge over the other teams in their group. Second, Tikolo is a great marshal of spin bowling. Possibly because he is a spinner himself, he seems able to really get the most out of the middle overs when Kenya need to slow the run rate and frustrate the opposition. This has been one of the team's strong points over the last 12 months and it would be wise to take advantage of it.
.
Finally, there is the fielding aspect. Kamande has always been a great fielder and his athleticism in the final of the WCL contributed a great deal to Scotland's uncertainly in the middle. The Obuya brother may have got the run outs then, but it was Kamande who put the pressure on with several great stops and two direct hits - one from square on. His presence in the field can only benefit the rest of the team just as Jonty Rhodes did for South Africa and Symonds does for Australia. For once, Kenya are faced with a selection decision based on good performances. It will be tough for Suji to miss out, but on balance maybe this is Kamande's turn.
.
Hopefully Kenya's bowlers will be able to do what they failed to do in the two warm up games and take regular and early wickets to put pressure on the opposition. Odoyo has looked in good touch so far and will be key. A couple of early breakthroughs from him will allow Ongondo to tighten the screws at the other end. It will then be up to the spinners to keep the lid on. Things are coming together at just about the right time for Kenya and if they should be happy with the preparations. There are just one or two final things to be worked on, but if the team all play to the potential they have shown, this could be a very exciting couple of weeks indeed for Kenyan cricket.