Cricket: Kenyans in nervy victory over Singapore

Kenya's Narendra Kalyan attempts to return the ball during cricket world cup qualifier at Nairobi Gymkana Grounds on Friday, Nov 18, 2016. [PGOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Nelson Odhiambo and Patel stage brilliant performance with the bat.

Kenya yesterday picked the second victory of the ongoing International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League Division Three.

The Kenyan boys held their nerve to beat Singapore by 12 runs in a scintillating match played at Al Amarat Cricket Stadium in Muscat, Oman.

Electing to bat, Kenya had one of their best innings in recent times scoring a striking 324 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

Nelson Odhiambo, Narendra Patel and Rakep Patel smashed a half ton each in a high scoring tie that also saw Singapore’s Anish Paraam miss the century mark by 15 runs.

Unlike the first three matches, Kenya’s opening duo of Narendra and Alex Obanda was stable against Singapore.

After Narendra and Obanda’s first wicket stand partnership of 65, there was no looking back for the Kenyans who were yearning for a second win.

The duo looked more composed on the crease but their partnership was broken in the seventh over when Anantha Krishna got Obanda.

Obanda who has not been at his best in the tournament showed an improvement scoring 23 runs off 12 balls, he had hit four boundaries and a six before his dismissal.

Narendra paired up with Dhiren Gondaria and their partnership was also productive resulting in 48 runs.

Narendra would then fall to Krishna in the 15th over with Kenya’s score at 113 for two.

Wicketkeeper Irfan Patel who starred for Kenya against Uganda was unlucky after Krishna trapped him leg before on his ninth ball putting Kenya’s score at 117 for the loss of three wickets. 

Gondaria fell short of a half century by eight runs when Janak Prakash caught and bowled in 28.1 overs with Kenya’s score at 117 for four. Rakep and Nelson’s fifth stand wicket pushed Kenya’s score to 241 with the former skipper scoring 52 runs off 70 balls.

Nelson steadied Kenya’s batting with 80 runs off 58 deliveries as he pushed Kenya’s score to over 300 runs. He troubled Singapore bowlers who tried to dismiss him in vain.

Paraam finally succeeded in ending his stay at the crease as he was caught by Arjun Muterja in the 47th over with Kenya’s score 309 for six.

Nelson had cracked the boundary nine times for seven boundaries and two sixes.

Sachin Bhudia scored 25 off 33 as Kenya set a target of 325 for Singapore.