Cricket: Obuya hits century as Kenya beat Oman in friendly

Collins Obuya plays a sweep, Canada v Kenya, ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, 11th place play-off, Sharjah, November 26, 2013 ©ICC

Veteran Collins Obuya yesterday hit a century as Kenya XI held their nerve to beat Oman by three wickets in their first match of the friendly series at Jaffreys Oval.

Chasing 234, Obuya was undoubtedly man of the match, scoring 111 not out.

Obuya cracked the edge 13 times smashing 11 boundaries and two sixes as the side cruised to victory with a score of 236/7 in 49.1 overs.

Team coach Thomas Odoyo said of Obuya’s display thus:
“It was a superb performance that is worth emulating. Other players should feel challenged to do the same and that will surely improve their performance.”

Nelson Odhiambo scored 22 before being trapped leg before by Ajay Lalcheta.

Dhiren Gondaria scored 30 runs off 30 deliveries, but was caught behind with Kenya XI’s at 67 for three to usher in Obuya for a fourth stand wicket.

In Oman’s innings skipper Shem Ngoche took three wickets for 40 whereas Elijah Otieno dismissed two for 40. Elijah Otieno took 1/25, Peter Koech 1/30 and Gurdeep Singh 1/12.

Zeeshan Maqsood was Oman’s top scorer with 82 runs hitting eight boundaries and three sixes. Ahmed Ali missed the half ton mark with eight runs as he scored 42 off 59. Khawar Ali scored 35 off 50 while Nester Dhanbha had 32 runs.

Oman skipper Sultan Ahmad said that the closely contested. “It was a close match one that a team needs when preparing for a bigger championship. Kenya has very good players although it is unfortunate that they lost the ODI status.”

[Elizabeth Mburugu]

At the Nairobi Sikh Union Club, Malaysia made work easy of the Kenya Select side easing to a nine wickets win. Anwar Arudin and Ahmad Faiz both hit half tonnes to stir the visitors to victory.

After a dull innings that saw the homeboys score 165 for 10, Kenya seemed to have began their defence positively with Eugine Ochieng’s dismissal of Fikri Makram. Ochieng got the opening batsman caught to put Malaysia’s at 13 for 1.

However, that did not dampen the spirits of the visitors who were chasing an attainable score of 166. Arudin and Faiz formed a solid partnership of 140 for a victory with a total score of 167/1 in 31.2 overs.

In Kenya Select’s innings national team opening batsman Alex Obanda top scored with 32 off 58 whereas Nicholas Oluoch and Emmanuel Bundi scored 29(46) and 18(44) respectively.