Kenyans seek third victory over Saudi Arabia

Fresh from winning the Cricket Kenya Four-Nation Quadrangular 50-Overs series, hosts Kenya begin their hunt for the Twenty20 title today morning at Nairobi Gymkhana.

Bubbling with confidence, the hosts will seek to extend their dominance over Saudi  Arabia, whom they beat twice in the longer version of the game.

Kenya were to face Qatar yesterday, but their match was rescheduled due to wet conditions at the Jeffrey's Grounds, which rendered the oval unplayable. Nonetheless, Kenya coach Thomas Odoyo is hopeful his boys will triumph once again.

"We want to win because we are aiming for a clean sweep in the T20 challenge. We did not play our opening match, but that will not deter us from achieving our objective. The players are in high spirits and ready to make Kenya proud," Odoyo said.

Kenya will go into the match as favourites following their double victory against Saudi Arabia in the 50-Overs. The homeboys first defeated the Saudis by 16 runs in their preliminary match, then later won by six wickets in the final to be crowned champions.

Odoyo will rely on the services of first-rising batsman Dhiren Gondaria, who led Kenya to victory in the final. Veteran all-rounder Collins Obuya and bowler Nelson Odhiambo, who were impressive for Kenya against the Saudis, will also feature. Others are captain Rakep Patel, Irfan Karim and Rushab Patel.

In the second match, Uganda will take on Qatar at the Jeffrey's Grounds. The Ugandans will be keen to overcome Qatar, who beat them by five wickets in the preliminaries of the 50-overs.

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia beat Uganda by 31 runs to begin their T20 campaign on a high. Waheed Abdul was the lead scorer for Saudi Arabia with 71 runs off 44 balls. Abdul was outstanding as he hammered 11 boundaries among them five fours and four sixes. Nadeem Javed was second on the scorecard with 33 runs off 20 balls, while Muhammad Abbasi had 24 runs off 23 balls.

In bowling, Uganda's Brian Masaba had had two wickets for 35 runs in four overs.