ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

CANADA v KENYA John Davison must have wondered whether he made the right decision in choosing to bat first when Canada’s score stood at 102 for seven. On a green and, probably, underprepared pitch, Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ongondo produced an exemplary display of seam bowling, accurate and with just enough movement to render the batsmen uncertain and encourage the edge to the wicketkeeper and slips. No batsman looked comfortable, even though Geoff Barnett and Ashish Bagai occupied the crease for just under an hour and Pubudu Dassanayake for 73 minutes. Canada also gained valuable runs from the large number of no-balls contributed by Odoyo and Nehemiah Odhiambo. However, the conditions seemed to inspire rather than intimidate Qaiser Ali who led the fightback in the afternoon and early evening with forceful hitting all round the wicket. He received support from Umar Bhatti, Henry Osinde and Puvendran Ravishankar, the latter batting for over an hour and a half in a last-wicket stand of 49. Unfortunately no one stayed long enough to enable Qaiser Ali to reach his century. He was 91 not out when the innings ended, having batted for two and three-quarter hours with a strike rate of 56.8 and 57% of his runs coming in boundaries. If Qaiser Ali’s performance was an indicator that batting conditions had eased, Canada’s opening attack of Osinde and Umar Bhatti quickly dispelled that notion as Kenya, with one hour left in the day, lost two wickets in the first fifteen minutes without managing to score a run and a further two before the close, which came early at 5.37 pm because of bad light, when the score was still only 14. Not surprisingly, Kenya started cautiously on the second day with Hitesh Modi and Collins Obuya attempting to repair the damage. They added 51 runs before Modi fell to the spin of Ravishankar. Obuya and Tanmay Mishra continued to play carefully but before the hundred was reached, Obuya steered a ball from Osinde to Barnett in the slips. Odoyo did not last long but Mishra and Odhiambo added 66 runs for the eighth wicket in an hour and a half. After Barnett made another fine catch to dismiss Odhiambo, Ongondo batted for over half-an-hour for six runs. Mishra then found support from Hiren Varaiya in a last-wicket partnership of 41, which took Kenya to within four runs of Canada’s first-innings total, before Varaiya was tempted by an outswinger from Umar Bhatti only to edge it to Dassanayake for his third catch of the innings. After a short break for rain, Canada’s openers were set on avoiding any early collapse, which they did by some attractive batting, putting on 46 runs in 51 minutes, including seven fours and one six. Davison fell to Odoyo 12 minutes before the close but Umar Bhatti, coming in as nightwatchman, prevented any further Kenyan conquests. Umar Bhatti did an excellent job as nightwatchman, it taking a further 34 minutes for Kenya to remove him, by which time Canada had added only 10 more runs. Barnett then dominated proceedings in partnerships of 86 with Stewart Heaney, who made only 12 of them, and 112 with Bagai. With the score on 260 for three, it looked as though Canada would bat all day and set Kenya an impossible target on day four. Odhiambo, however, produced a brilliant spell of bowling to dismiss Barnett and take four more wickets as Canada collapsed to 286 all out, the last seven wickets going down for 26 runs. Bagai made a valuable half-century but Canada owed all to Barnett whose innings of 136 lasted nearly four and three-quarter hours and was made at a strike rate of 64.1. Set 291 runs to win, Kenya again started poorly, losing both openers for 21 runs and, although not losing any more wickets – a confident appeal for a stumping against Tikolo off the bowling of Davison being turned down – ended the day still 246 runs short. The final day saw the initiative continually changing between the two sides. Tikolo and Tony Suji added 75 runs to put Kenya in with a chance before Tikolo, having just reached his half-century, was bowled by Davison. Suji was out shortly after but Modi and Obuya then took the score to 173. Modi then offered a return catch to Ravishankar and Mishra fell to the same bowler soon after to return the advantage to Canada. Odoyo helped Obuya to bring the target back within reach before a brilliant catch by Barnett accounted for Odoyo as Umar Bhatti returned to the attack. Obuya then played splendidly, protecting the tail and scoring runs. Ongondo defended for 39 minutes and Varaiya 40 minutes as Obuya took Kenya closer and closer to victory. But it was not to be; 11 runs short of his century and 25 runs short of the target, Obuya edged an outswinger from Umar Bhatti into the safe hands of Barnett to give Umar Bhatti his sixth wicket of the innings. Canada deserved their victory with Geoff Barnett and Umar Bhatti sharing the Man-of-the-Match award. Kenya, by contrast, had contributed much to an exciting match, all for a reward of zero points. 92 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006-07