ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

KENYA v BERMUDA Early-morning rain delayed the start on the first day by 30 minutes and provided the ideal conditions for Kenya’s pace attack. Bermuda, already weakened by injuries to Irving Romaine and Kevin Hurdle, were soon in difficulties, losing their first three wickets for only 16 runs. Saleem Mukuddem and Clay Smith added 32 but, just as it looked as though they were stabilising the situation, Mukuddem drove Hiren Varaiya straight into the hands of Thomas Odoyo at long on. Janeiro Tucker lasted only eight balls and Bermuda had struggled to 57 for five at lunch. Two balls after the interval, Clay Smith, the only batsman to show any resilience, was adjudged caught at the wicket, a decision with which he clearly disagreed. To worsen matters, Smith suffered a leg strain whilst batting and took no further part in the match. Hasan Durham was almost immediately given run-out, attempting a foolish second run in partnership with Dean Minors, but Buddhi Pradhan reversed his decision after consulting with his colleague, Tony Hill, who ruled that the ball had become “dead”. Following this reprieve, the pair put on 37 runs before Minors, after an entertaining innings, fell leg-before to Odoyo. Ryan Steede was dismissed in the same way next ball but Durham, Dwayne Leverock and Stefan Kelly showed sufficient application to last a further 20 overs and take the innings total to 133. Maurice Ouma and David Obuya began confidently with an opening partnership of 32, but a remarkable six-over spell by Mukuddem brought Bermuda back into the match, as he accounted for both openers and Tony Suji. Steve Tikolo and Tanmay Mishra restored the situation, however, taking Kenya to within nine runs of Bermuda’s total by the close. Heavy rain prevented any play on the morning of the second day. An early lunch was taken and, following a pitch inspection at 2.00 pm, the game resumed at 2.44. Tikolo and Mishra consolidated Kenya’s overnight position, taking the team score to 150 before Tikolo became the victim of a superb diving caught and bowled by Mukuddem. Although Mishra went on to complete his half-century, and was not dismissed until the fall of the ninth wicket, the rest of Kenya’s batsmen gave a pathetic display against the pace of Mukuddem, who obtained a six-wicket haul, and Ryan Steede, who spoilt his effort by contributing nine no-balls. The last seven Kenyan wickets went for 55 runs, so that what might have been a substantial lead with a more sensible approach, was reduced to only 72 and Bermuda were back in the match. Kenya quickly regained the initiative, however. Steven Outerbridge and Kwame Tucker, facing some hostile bowling by Odoyo and Peter Ongondo, survived four confident appeals for leg-before in the first three overs. Rapidly fading light forced Tikolo to change to an all-spin attack and, in the penultimate over of the day, Varaiya bowled Outerbridge, with a ball which turned sharply, and then dismissed the nightwatchman, Dwayne Leverock. Bermuda were thus in trouble again at 19 for two, still 53 runs in arrears. The heavy rain forecast for the third morning duly arrived, turning large parts of the outfield into a quagmire. The deluge stopped at about 10.00 am and the groundstaff immediately began work to dry the outfield. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain as further rain fell late morning and undid all their work. The umpires made an inspection at 2.00 pm and decided that, even if the weather improved, the conditions were likely to remain too dangerous for play. Although a further inspection could have been made at 5.00 pm, the umpires consulted with the two captains and then abandoned proceedings for the day. More rain overnight soaked the ground again and, even though the fourth day started sunny, there was little chance of conditions improving sufficiently to allow play to restart. Inspections were made at 10.00 am, 11.00 am and 1.00 pm and the match was duly abandoned after lunch, again bringing into question the wisdom of scheduling cricket in Nairobi during the ’short’ rainy season. Points were allocated according to the regulations for matches in which more than eight hours of play are lost to bad weather. 98 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006-07