ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

KENYA v NAMIBIA Kenya were disadvantaged by the refusal of eight of their leading cricketers (Steve Tikolo, Martin Suji, Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Otieno, Tony Suji, Maurice Ouma, Peter Ongondo and Josephat Ababu) to play. They were in dispute with the Kenya Cricket Association (KCA) over what they claimed were payments owed them from previous tournaments and the KCA’s unwillingness to offer anything longer than two-month contracts. For reasons yet to be fully explained, it was noticeable that all the players who chose to withdraw their labour were African and that all the leading Asian cricketers agreed to play. Kenya were also weakened since their last match against Uganda by the five-year suspension given to Maurice Odumbe for dealings with an Indian bookmaker. Hitesh Modi took over the captaincy of an inexperienced side. Whether it was the overcast cloudy conditions or concern about the possible frailty of Kenya’s batting, Modi chose to field first on winning the toss. Namibia found the pitch ideal for batting, losing only one wicket before lunch, which was taken with the score on 107. Kenya’s bowlers maintained tight line and length in the morning session and continued in the same vein during the afternoon but without much success. Daniel Keulder and Louis Burger added 96 for the third wicket and seemed untroubled when suddenly both fell just before tea. In the evening session, Deon Kotze and Gerrie Snyman punished a tiring Kenyan attack, both ending the day with not out half-centuries to leave Namibia in a strong position. Well though Namibia batted, the star of the day was Abeed Janmohamed, the replacement Kenyan wicketkeeper who had arrived in Nairobi at 6.30 am on the overnight flight from London, having been called into the squad at the last moment. He had scored three first-class centuries for Oxford Universities Centre of Cricketing Excellence whilst at Oxford Brookes but had spent the summer playing league cricket for Cranleigh in Surrey. His spectacular diving catch to remove Stefan Swanepoel was particularly fine, as was the smart leg-side stumping to dismiss Keulder. Janmohamed snared Kotze early on the second morning off the bowling of Ragheb Aga who was the most impressive of the Kenyan bowlers. After the same combination accounted for Sarel Burger, Kotze declared, leaving Snyman undefeated in a characteristically aggressive contribution with a strike rate of 90.5. The fragility of Kenya’s upper order was cruelly exposed. Malhar Patel fell to the first ball of the innings, Kola Burger then accounted for the experienced Ravindu Shah and Sarel Burger picked up two further wickets to leave the home side in severe trouble on 64 for four at lunch. Fortunately, the more experienced middle and lower order were able to retrieve the situation in the afternoon. Hitesh Modi combined defence and aggression in an example to his colleagues; whilst his 53 was made at a strike rate of 55.2, 83% of the runs came in boundaries. Good support from Aga and a “make-or-break” knock from Lameck Onyango (strike rate of 104.6 with ten fours and two sixes) enabled Kenya to recover to 258 all out. However, Namibia were untroubled as they built on their lead of 99 to end the day 207 runs ahead and eight wickets in hand. Namibia batted for only one hour in the third day before declaring 301 in front. Modi took advantage of his role as captain to give himself a bowl and obtain his best return for Kenya in any form of international cricket. When the home side lost Malhar Patel before lunch and Brijal Patel soon after, defeat looked likely but Shah clearly had other ideas. With his fifth century in first-class cricket, he defied everything that Namibia tried in a virtually chanceless display. Undefeated after facing 268 balls of both pace and spin, his 187 runs were made at a strike rate of 69.7 and included 27 fours; that there were no sixes illustrated his risk-avoiding approach. He was ably supported by Amit Bhudia who adopted a more defensive role, his 31 runs coming at a strike rate of 20.3. Together they added 185 for the third wicket. Bhudia departed early in the evening session to be replaced by Aga. When he looked equally obdurate, Kotze decided that there was little chance of forcing victory and called off the proceedings with ten overs still to go. Kenya gained just enough points to ensure their progress to the semi-finals as winners of the African Group. Shah clearly deserved his Man-of-the-Match award. 38 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004