Kenyans charge into Super Sixes at W/Cup

JOHANNESBURG: Kenya achieved their unlikely dream yesterday and charged into the Super Six phase of the Cricket World Cup with a 32-run victory over Bangladesh at the Wanderers Stadium.

There were heroes aplenty for the East African underdogs who proclaimed before the tournament that their goal was to get to the second stage of the world’s biggest cricket event. Kenya became the first non-Test playing nation to reach the second stage of a World Cup and the most important contributors were part-time bowlers Maurice Odumbe and captain Steve Tikolo. Both returned their best-ever One-Day International figures. Odumbe took four wickets for 38 runs from 10 overs, and Tikolo returned 3-14 of 5.2 overs. “This win means a lot for Kenyan cricket,” said Tikolo. “It felt like we were playing in Nairobi, the way the crowd was behind us.” Of the 17,000 spectators, a large proportion waved Kenyan flags, and a victory lap by the Kenyans was greeted ecstatically by those fans. Odumbe took the opportunity at the post-match news conference to push Kenya’s claim for Test status. “We beat them, and we have beaten other Test-playing countries. This is not a village tournament. It’s the World Cup, and we won,” he said. He also sounded a warning to the teams they would meet in the Super Sixes.

“A few months ago, we nearly knocked off Australia. We are not going into the Super Sixes with a defeatist attitude. We are going to compete,” Odumbe said. “After we lost to South Africa in our second match, our spirits were a bit low,” said Tikolo. “But they picked up nicely after that, and, when we beat Sri Lanka, we began to believe we would indeed reach the Super Sixes.” Bangladesh always appeared to be in contention, but lost wickets at regular intervals. “We made mistakes, and gave wickets away too cheaply,” said Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud. “But I have to say Maurice bowled very well.” Mashud attributed the poor Bangladeshi batting throughout the tournament to the surprise defeat at the start at the hands of the Canadians.

“The morale has been low since then, especially amongst the younger members of the team,” he said. Perhaps the hammer-blow for the Bangladeshis came when Mohammad Ashraful was adjudged leg before wicket for just one run off a big inside edge to Martin Suji. The other batsmen fought bravely, but the Kenyans were tenacious, and deserving of their victory. Best batsmen for Bangladesh were Tushar Imran, who scored 48, and Akram Khan, who got 44. Interestingly, both fell to fine catches by substitute fielder Joseph Angara. Earlier, a fine undefeated 52 by Odumbe took Kenya to 217 for seven. It was a battle for the Kenyan batsmen throughout as the Bangladeshis lifted their game considerably in all departments, except catching.

Other good scores for the Kenyans were registered by opener Ravindu Shah and No. 3 batsman Brijal Patel, who got 37 and 32 respectively. For the Bangladeshis, Sanuar Hossain returned his best One-Day International figures of 3-49, and, but for the Kenyan run-chase at the end, those figures might have been even better. Along with their wins over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Canada, the Kenyans got four points from a forfeit when New Zealand refused to travel to Nairobi due to security concerns. Bangladesh lost their first match of the tournament to Canada, and have been battling ever since to regain their equilibrium.