ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

KENYA v SCOTLAND Already weakened by the strike of eight of their leading African players, Kenya were forced to make a further change because of the absence of their new captain, Hitesh Modi, who was away in London, getting married. Ragheb Aga became Kenya’s third captain in three matches with Tanmay Mishra making his debut in the vacant batting slot. Scotland, at full strength, won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch which was forecast to break up as the match progressed. Kenya’s bowlers caused Scotland some concern at first as Fraser Watts survived two close appeals for leg-before and a lightning leg-side stumping by Abeed Janmohamed off Kalpesh Patel. Kenya could not maintain the pressure, however, and Douglas Lockhart and Watts took charge of the proceedings, placing Scotland in a comfortable position at 93 without loss at lunch. Lockhart edged Aga to the wicketkeeper immediately play resumed but Watts remained in control in partnerships of 51 with Cedric English and 17 with Gavin Hamilton. Once joined by Ryan Watson, the run rate accelerated in a fourth-wicket stand of 118. Although both batsmen lost their wickets in the run chase, Scotland were able to declare and give Kenya an awkward period of batting before the close. Watts reached a career best of 146 in just over six hours at a strike rate of 65.7, scoring his second century in successive first-class innings. Asim Butt removed Malhar Patel just before stumps to give Scotland the advantage at the end of day one. The second day belonged almost entirely to Scotland. They gained the initiative early on with wickets falling regularly. Only Ravindu Shah, sixth out having made 32, showed any ability against Scotland’s pace bowlers. Several batsmen were able to defend but as soon as they tried to score runs they lost their wickets. A brief partnership of 19 between Shah and Aga gave some hope before Peter Hoffmann was brought into the attack and proved virtually unplayable. The last six wickets went for 21 runs as Hoffmann returned the remarkable analysis of 5.4-5-5-5. Despite a lead of 205, Colin Wright did not enforce the follow-on, choosing instead to bat Kenya out of the match completely. In terms of tactics for a win, this proved to be an error as the pitch continued to give assistance to the quicker bowlers. Lameck Onyango, Aga and Kalpesh Patel took four wickets whilst Scotland struggled to 41 runs but again the Kenyans were unable to sustain the pressure. Ryan Watson and Colin Smith shared a century partnership for the fifth wicket and, after Aga accounted for Watson, Kyle Coetzer added a further 101 with Smith before the close, at which point Scotland’s lead was a virtually unassailable 447 runs. Kenya prevented Smith from attaining what would have been a well-deserved century but could not prevent Coetzer reaching his in 200 balls with 13 fours and one six. He and Wright added 122 for the seventh wicket, the third consecutive partnership of one hundred or more. When Scotland passed 400, Wright declared, a lead of 606. Not surprisingly, Kenya made no attempt at the target and set themselves the challenge of batting out the rest of the day, which they succeeded in doing at the not unenterprising strike rate of 52.2. Amit Bhudia occupied the crease for over three hours but scored 79 with ten fours and in the evening session Kalpesh Patel made 23 off 20 balls in only 11 minutes. Since neither Shah nor Onyango batted, it was the younger, stand-in, players who emerged with credit. For many of them, however, this and the previous match were the highlights of their career since few went on to represent Kenya on a regular basis. Although Scotland qualified for the final by obtaining more points than Kenya, the feeling remained that they could have won the match if Kenya had been asked to follow on when conditions favoured the pace bowlers on the second afternoon. Paul Hoffmann received the Man-of-the-Match award for his outstanding bowling in Kenya’s first innings. 40 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004