ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

IRELAND v KENYA Despite bright sunshine, play did not get under way until 12.15 pm because overnight rain had left the outfield damp. When play did begin, Ireland, choosing to bat first, dominated the first two sessions. Jeremy Bray and Paul Stirling saw Ireland through to lunch, playing cautiously against a lively attack which generally bowled too wide of the stumps. After the interval, runs came quickly with Bray scoring heavily on the leg side and Stirling displaying a wide range of strokes either side of the wicket. It was somewhat of a surprise when, with the score on 128, Bray edged a ball from Nehemiah Odhiambo to slip; he had hit fourteen fours in his score of 89, made at a strike rate of 73.5. Alex Cusack provided excellent support for Stirling and the pair took the total to 197 for one at tea. In the evening session, Stirling reached his century by hitting Peter Ongondo for a huge six over mid wicket but, four balls later, Ongondo got a ball to nip back and Stirling, attempting to cut it, could only edge it to the wicketkeeper. Stirling’s maiden first-class hundred contained 13 fours in addition to that one six, and was made at a strike rate of 55.2. Andre Botha and Cusack attempted to maintain Ireland’s initiative, but runs came ever more slowly as Steve Tikolo and Jimmy Kamande extracted turn from the pitch and the latter bowled largely on the leg stump. At one stage only six runs were added in eight overs. Under pressure, the Irish batsmen, Cusack excepted, seemed to panic and lost five wickets for only 47 runs. The last of these was Cusack, caught at short leg in the last over of the day. Tikolo, with five wickets for 67, had brought Kenya back into the game. On day two, Ireland took their first-innings score to 404, perhaps somewhat lower than what might have been expected at tea on the first day. They did it largely thanks to Regan West who hit nine fours in his 44, made at a strike rate of 88.0. He and Kyle McCallan put on 43 for the ninth wicket before the Irish captain became Tikolo’s sixth victim. The tenth-wicket partnership was looking promising at 23 but was ended when Peter Connell foolishly ran himself out. The recall of Kennedy Otieno to open the batting did not work for Kenya; he made only eight. Seren Waters and David Obuya batted well against a rather off-form Irish pace attack but, as on the first day, the introduction of spin slowed the run rate and created difficulties for the batsmen. With Kenya on 123 for five, Ireland appeared to have the match under control but Maurice Ouma and Kamande countered with a partnership of 108. Such was their resistance that it looked as though Ireland would not take another wicket. Kenya gave it them, however, when Kamande called for an impossible single to mid wicket; the Kenyan captain surprisingly responded but was run out easily by a direct hit at the stumps by Cusack. Kamande continued his resistance in the company of Thomas Odoyo and the pair remained undefeated when rain caused play to finish 30 minutes early. Kenya were still 165 runs behind with only four wickets in hand. Kamande only added eight to his score on the third morning before falling leg-before to West. Useful contributions from Odoyo and Ongondo helped to minimise Kenya’s deficit on the first innings but, when Elijah Otieno became West’s fourth wicket of the innings, the Irish lead was still 73. With the wicket still taking spin but becoming ever slower and the ball keeping ever lower, Tikolo shared the new ball with Odoyo and bowled 22 overs in his opening spell, during which he removed Bray and Stirling. Wickets fell regularly as Ireland tried to score runs quickly until Cusack and Andrew White provided stability with an undefeated partnership of 50. At the close, Ireland led by 212 runs. Timing the declaration so as to avoid giving Kenya an easy target, but also to leave enough time to bowl them out, was going to be crucial on the last day. Early morning rain prevented a start on the final day before lunch. Despite losing Cusack without any addition to his score, White and Gary Wilson produced the quick runs required and Ireland were able to declare, setting Kenya a target of 298 runs from 70 overs. Trent Johnston soon had Kenya in trouble at 33 for two and the change of attack to spin made that 82 for four. As in the first innings, Ouma led the resistance, this time accompanied by Collins Obuya who scored briskly in a partnership of 105 in 26 overs. If anything, the pitch seemed to become easier for batting and the loss of Ouma, with still an hour left for play, had little effect on Kenya’s progress. With Kamande partnering Collins Obuya, who gave an impressive display of aggressive batting (84 runs with ten fours and two sixes and a strike rate of 88.4), the visitors were getting closer to the target and it was not until McCallan trapped Collins Obuya leg-before that Ireland gained some relief. With victory now unlikely, Kenya’s aim was to obtain a draw which, despite the loss of two more wickets, was achieved. Without the time lost for rain, either side might have forced a win. The time lost, however, was a crucial contribution to Ireland’s failure to reach the final for a fourth consecutive tournament. 180 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009-10