Kenyan win dedicated to Rakep Patel's father

While Kenya's players were quick to celebrate their epic victory over Canada in the Intercontinental Cup they were quicker still to dedicate their voctory to the memory of their team mate's late father. Maurice Ouma, Kenyan Captain put it best in a comment on facebook:

"My first win as captain. The win in the Intercontinental Cup is dedicated to my team mate's dad. Rakep Patel, God be with you in this trying moments and may he bless you and keep you strong."

Other players have expressed similar sentiments and the solidarity of the team in such a tough time has shown through as well as their cricket which was for the most part exceptional.

Right from winning the toss, something Ouma is already becoming a master at, Kenya looked to take charge of the match, though they required the brilliance of Steve Tikolo to get them there.
While other batsmen got starts and then got out in Kenya's first innings, Tikolo was back to his best showing plenty of disdain for Canada's bowlers who found themselves despatched to all parts of the ground. Despite no one else making a half Century, Tikolo's stand was enough to carry Kenya over the 300 mark and give the bowlers plenty of opportunity to do their bit. While they did not make big scores, it should be noted that both Ouma, Alex Obanda and vice-captain, Jimmy Kamande did contribute by way of decent partnerships with Tikolo, something perhaps lost on those who just perused the scorecard at the end of the day's play. Without them there, Tikolo would not have been able to dominate to nearly such a great extent.

Canada's first innings got off to a shaky start due to some excellent new ball bowling from Thomas Odoyo and Nehemiah Odhiambo who both picked up wickets before the close of play on day 1 to leave Canada in trouble at 14-2. Odhiambo, who carried his domestic form into this game, was in particular used well by Ouma who brought him on to break partnerships on several occasions through the game. Picking up 5 wickets for the match he was the most incicive of Kenya's seamers, but Odoyo could feel unlucky for not taking more as he repeatedly beat the bat and tied the Canadian batsmen in Knots. Not content to dominate with the bat, Tikolo added 2 wickets to his match effort along side left arm spinner Hiren Varaiya. 2 players who should also be commended though they did not figure largely in the wicket tallies were Peter Ongondo and Jimmy Kamande. Their spell after tea on day 2 was particularly impressive as they prevented the Canadians from scoring for 9 consecutive overs before the pressure finally told and Ongondo picked up what was to prove his only wicket of the match.

Unlike Canada, Kenya's openers survived their few remaining overs before stumps and Kenya were looking good going into day 3. A brief fightback the following morning saw David Obuya and Alex Obanda quickly back to the pavillion, but that only brought back Tikolo to the crease to join teenage opener Seren Waters. In a partnership not seen by a Kenyan pair for far too long they first rode their luck (both being dropped before they reached their 50s) and then made the hosts pay as they added 330 runs for the third wicket. Tikolo eventually fell for 169, his second 150+ score of the match, the wicket prompting Ouma to declare and once again give the Canadians a horror few overs to face before stumps.

As in their first innings, Odoyo struck early and when the spin of Hiren Varaiya accounted for Jyoti with the score on 56, Canada knew they were going to need to bat well on the final day to hold out for a draw. It was not to be. Once again it was Odoyo that got the early breakthrough on the final morning, but then began the Varaiya show. The left arm spinner has always enjoyed bowling against the Canadians and scythed through their middle order and tail to finish with career best figures of 6-45. Again Odhiambo provided the perfect foil picking up 2 wickets of his own, but it was the spin and flight of varaiya that really had the Canadians bamboozled. In the end only the weather could have saved them as a thunder storm threatened to snatch victory from under Kenyan noses, but in the end even that could not come quick enough to deny Ouma his maiden win as Kenya Captain.

With the spirit shown in Ireland and the new vigour and enthusiasm he has instilled in the team, it should be the first of many. Kenya, who thanks to this result are now top of the Intercontinental Cup table, will now look to tomorrow's first ODI to underline their dominance and continue their resurgence.

Man of the match is hardly up for debate, but there is a poll available for you to let us know who you think deserves points for towards the Player of the Year award. Due to Tikolo's efforts, this poll will allow multiple votes so we can determine who you want to be awarded the minor points.

Under 17 Trials next 3 days

Trials for the national Under 17s team will be held at Ruaraka Sports Club over the next three days as Cricket Kenya look to name a side to play in the Africa zone finals at the end of the month. Kenya will host the three team event which also includes Namibia and Ghana who won their respective regional tournaments.

After the dissapointment of the U19 and U13 teams earlier this year, this is a chance for Kenya's young cricketers who have undoubted talent to show their worth.

Below is the Cricket Kenya press release:

PRESS RELEASE - UNDER 17 TRIAL MATCHES

Cricket Kenya wishes to inform members of the press that we will be conducting trial matches for Under 17 players. This exercise is aimed at selecting a team to take part in the ICC/ACA Cup finals in Nairobi from 27^th to 30^th August 2009.

The trial games will take place at Ruaraka Sports Club on 13^th, 14^th and 15^th August and will involve players from Nairobi, Coast and Rift Valley provinces.

Important to note is the cut off date which is 1^st September 1991.

NPCA 50 Over League Tables after Week 4

SUPER DIV
TEAM	PLAYED	WIN	DRAW	BAT	BOWL	BONUS	PENALTY	TOTAL
Swamibapa 'A'	4	48	0	11	16	2	0	77
Kanbis 'A'	3	36	0	9	14	0	0	59
Stray Lions 'A'	3	36	0	4	12	4	-1	55
Telca	4	24	0	9	12	0	0	45
Kanbis 'B'	4	12	0	8	14	2	0	34
Simba Union 'A'	3	12	0	2	10	2	0	26
Sir Ali 'A'	4	12	0	3	6	0	-3	18
SCLYL 'A'	4	0	0	3	12	0	0	15
DIV I
TEAM	PLAYED	WIN	DRAW	BAT	BOWL	BONUS	PENALTY	TOTAL
Kongonis Dev	4	36	0	11	14	0	0	61
Premier	4	36	0	10	12	2	-1	59
Swamibapa 'B'	3	36	0	7	11	2	0	56
Ruaraka 'A'	4	24	0	7	9	2	-1	41
Nbi. Nookers 'A'	3	24	0	7	6	2	-1	38
Ngara	4	12	0	3	8	2	-1	24
Nbi.Jafferys	4	12	0	5	8	0	-2	23
Nbi.Gymkhana	4	0	0	6	9	0	0	15
DIV II
TEAM	PLAYED	WIN	DRAW	BAT	BOWL	BONUS	PENALTY	TOTAL
Stray Lions 'B	4	48	0	4	16	4	0	72
Aga Khan	4	36	0	4	12	0	0	52
Goan Institute 'A'	4	24	0	10	11	2	0	47
SCLYL 'B'	3	24	0	5	6	8	0	43
Golden XI	4	24	0	5	10	2	0	41
Simba Union 'B'	4	12	0	4	7	8	0	31
Qutbis	4	12	0	7	4	0	-1	22
Sir Ali 'B'	3	0	0	1	5	0	-1	5
DIV III
TEAM	PLAYED	WIN	DRAW	BAT	BOWL	BONUS	PENALTY	TOTAL
Parklands	4	48	0	5	16	4	-2	71
Aaryans XI	3	24	0	9	10	0	0	43
Nbi Nookers ' B'	4	24	0	3	12	2	-1	40
Ruaraka 'B'	3	24	0	0	8	4	-1	35
Oshwal XI	4	12	0	4	10	2	0	28
Goan Institute 'B'	3	12	0	0	5	8	-1	24
Women XI	3	0	0	0	4	0	0	4

NPCA 50 Over League 2009 Week 4 Results

Super	Simba Union 'A'	Kanbis 'A'	Simba	Kanbis 'A' Won
	219 / 5	223 / 6		by 4 Wkts
	Lucas Oluoch - 75*	Rajesh Varsani - 84
	Karan Kaul - 69*	Arvind Halai - 66
	Nilesh Jesani - 2/15	Gagandeep S - 3/46
	Rajesh Varsani - 2/57	Abdul Najmi - 1/1
Super	Kanbis 'B'	SCLYL 'A'	Eastleigh	Kanbis 'B' won
	255 All Out	181 All Out		by 74 Runs
	Jadavji Jesani - 105	Jadavji Jesani - 105
	Ramesh K - 30	Rahul Rabadia - 37
	Mahendra S - 3/55	Jagdish K - 3/18
	Naran J - 2/17	Harshad P - 2/16
Super	Sir Ali 'A'	Swamibapa 'A'	Sir Ali	Swamibapa 'A'
	178 All Out	352 / 3		Won by
	Maurice Ouma - 178			174 Runs
	James Otieno - 53*
Super	Telca	Stray Lions 'A'	Ngara	Stray Lions 'A'
	139 All Out	140 / 3		Won by 7 Wkts
	Vikram Thampy - 21	David Obuya - 63
	Newton Muthee - 21	Collins Obuya - 31*
	Jimmy K - 3/24	Vikram Thampy - 2/35
	Hiren Varaiya - 3/27	Alfred Luseno - 1/14
	Andrew Mboya 3/33
One	Nbi Jafferys	Kongonis Dev	Jafferys	Kongonis Dev
	219 All Out	403 / 4		Won by 184 Runs
		Duncan Allen - 203
		Richard Collins - 76
		Adrian Zagaritis 57*
		Chris Childs 48
One	Swamibapa 'B'	Nbi Gymkhana	Gymkhana	Swamibapa 'B'
	290 / 8	94 All Out		Won by
	Ashish Bhatt - 93	Naveed Nanji - 22		196 Runs
	David Tikolo - 66	Kirit Trivedi - 16
	Kirit Trivedi - 3/42	Prakash P - 3/15
	Murtaza - 2/19	Pankaj Kerai - 2/15
One	Premier	Nbi Nookers 'A	Premier	Nbi Nookers 'A
	85 All Out	172 All Out		Won by
	Amit Ghosh - 36	Kennedy Obuya - 42		77 Runs
	Ebrahim - 7/32	Rajesh - 36
	Moin - 2/11	Brijan Patel - 5/27
	Arpan Patel - 2/2
One	Ruaraka 'A'	Ngara	Ruaraka	Ruaraka 'A'
	85 For No Loss	83 All Out		Won by 10 Wkts
	Maina - 41*	Ambani - 32
	Ravji - 39*	Manoj Asani - 4/12
		Amit Shukla - 3/26
Two	Goan Institute 'A'	Aga Khan	GI	Aga Khan won
	104 All Out	186 All Out		by 82 Runs
	Quersh - 49	Keval Patel - 61
	Harshit - 8/26	Tahir - 38
	Moez - 1/16	Khuzema - 3/33
		Quersh - 2/37
Two	Qutbis	Golden XI	Seifee	Golden XI
	54 All Out	211 / 9		Won by
	Murtaza Shoeb - 21	Jiten - 50*		157 Runs
	Kamlesh - 5/9	Mitesh - 41
	Amit 3/18	Hussien K - 4/52
		Yusuf Ezzi - 3/64
Two	SCLYL 'B'	Simba Union 'B'	Pindolia	SCLYL 'B'
	289 / 8	239 All Out		Won by
	Hitesh - 81	Purohit - 54		50 Runs
	Pritesh - 30	Rushab - 34
	Purohit - 3/35	Snehal B - 3/31
	Lucky - 2/9	Hitesh V - 3/38
Two	Stray Lions 'B'	Sir Ali 'B'	Peponi	Stray Lions 'B'
	141 / 3	140 All Out		Won by 7 Wkts
	Anand - 44	Ali - 72
	Ram - 28*	Suresh - 5/22
	Ali - 3/38	Altaf - 2/23
Three	Parklands	Goan Institute 'B'	Parklands	Parklands won
	308 / 9	152 All Out		by 156 Runs
Three	Oshwal XI	Nbi Nookers 'B'	Highridge	Oshwal XI
	116 / 5	114 All Out		Won by 5 Wkts
	Josphat - 50	Suresh - 46*
	Jay - 12	Amil - 21
	Quintas - 2/29	Jay Nagda - 3/35
	Amil - 2/39	Mehul Gada - 3/38
Three	Women's XI	Ruaraka 'B'	Nbi.School	Ruaraka 'B'
	74 All Out	75 For no loss		Won by 10 Wkts
Three	Aaryan	Bye		Bye

Duncan Allen hits first double-ton of 2009 season

Initial scores from NPCA 50 Over League week 4:

Stray Lions(18 points) beat Telca(1 point) by seven wickets at Ngara Sports Club to-day(Sunday) in the NPCA Super League Match which was officiated by Subhash Modi ad Lalji Bhudia.

Thomas Odoyo, Captain of Telca won the toss and decided to bat first but were soon in deep waters against the tight bowling of Darshit Shah (1/18), Andrew Mboya (3/33), Hiren Varaiya (3/26) and Captain Jimmy Kamande (3/26).
Top scorers for Telca were Vikram Thampy 21, Newton Muthee 21 and Thomas Odoyo 19.Alex Obanda made 8 while Stray Lions donated 26 extras to the score.

Stray Lions managed the required runs 140 for the loss of 3 wickets in just 22.2 overs thanks to the brilliant batting of David Obuya 63, Collins Obuya 31 not out and Steve Tikolo 13 including a towering six over the sight screeen which landed in the residence area and the ball was lost. Vikram Thampy bowled well to capture two wickets for 49 runs.

The highlight of the match was a brilliant catch of Alex Obanda taken just inside the boundary line by Malhar Patel off the bowling of Darshit Shah and Thomas Odoyo was brillintly caught by Steve Tikolo of the bowling of Hiren Varaiya. Both David and Collins batted superbly for Stray Lions.

The match was played in excellent spirit and it was an incident free.

Brief scores:

Telca all out for 139 in 37 overs. Telca Batting: Newton Muthee - 21, Vikram Thampy - 21, Thomas Odoyo - 19, Straylions Bowling: Andrew Mboya - 3/33, Hiren Varaiya - 3/27, Jimmy Kamande - 3/27 and Darshit Shah - 1/18

Straylions 140 runs in 22.2 for the loss of 3 wickets. Straylions Batting: David Obuya - 63, Peter Kituku - 8, Steve Tikolo - 19, Collins Obuya - 31 not out and Jimmy Kamande - 12 not out.
Telca Bowling: Vikram Thampy took 2/49 and Alfred Luseno got 1 wicket

Straylions A won by 7 wickets.

Scores - Thota Sreenivas

Swamipaba notched up another win scoring 352 vs Sir Ali with Maurice Ouma showing great form before the Canada tour with 178. James Otieno also impressed with 53 not out while Nehemiah Odhiambo again turned in a top class all round effort scoring 48 and leading the Swamibapa bowling attack taking 6 wkts for 43 off 9 overs.

Report - Peter Ongondo

In Kanbis A's match against Simba Union 'A' Lucas Oluoch made 75* and Karan Kaul 69* for Simba, though Kanbis went on to win the match by 4 wickets thanks to Rajesh Varsani (84) and Arvind Halai (66).

report - Karan Kaul

In the other match in Super Division Kanbis B defeated SCLYL A by 74 runs thanks to a century from Jadavji Jesani

Meanwhile in Division 1 Kongonis annhialated the Nairobi Jaffery bowlers scoring a massive 403! Jaffereys managed only 219 in reply. Duncan Allen lead the way for Kongonis with an unbeaten 203 - so far the first double century of this season and his second 100+ innings. Richard Collins chipped in with 76, Chris Childs made 48 and Adrian Zagaritis 57 not out.

Report - Dominic Wesonga