da pinup bet： The last time these two sides met, Zimbabwe were humiliated byseven wickets, allowing Kenya a passage to the World Cup semi-final
S Rajesh05-Apr-2003The last time these two sides met, Zimbabwe were humiliated byseven wickets, allowing Kenya a passage to the World Cup semi-final.It was revenge time for Zimbabwe under lights at Sharjah, as theysurvived a minor hiccup and ran away winners by five wickets, gettingtheir first points of this tournament.The star of the day for Zimbabwe was Doug Marillier, who cracked asplendid 100 – the first century of his one-day career. His knock wasmagnificently paced, and allowed Zimbabwe to make light of achallenging target of 226, especially after they had struggled at the startof their innings. Marillier’s 130-run stand for the third wicket with GrantFlower (59) turned the tide, and ensured that Collins Obuya’s excellentspell – 2 for 31 from 10 overs – didn’t translate into a Kenyan victory.Kenya began their defence of the target with their usual enthusiasmand discipline. Martin Suji and Thomas Odoyo frustrated Marillier andCraig Wishart, bowling consecutive maidens and allowing just 55 runsin the first 15 overs.Collins Obuya then came on and struck twice in quick succession, firsthaving Wishart caught by Steve Tikolo at slip (56 for 1), and then takinga return catch off Gavin Rennie (68 for 2). Flighting the ball and gettingappreciable turn, Obuya consistently pitched on good length andtroubled all the batsmen. However, the Marillier-Flower partnershipgradually turned things around.Marillier, circumspect at the start, played none of the audacious slogswhich have characterised his batting in ODIs. His first fifty took all of82 balls – compared to 57 for his next – and though it included a fewpowerful drives and pulls, there were plenty of dot-balls too.None of this bothered Marillier, though. With Flower timing the ballsweetly and rotating the strike, Zimbabwe’s innings soon got amove-on. Flower completed 6000 runs in ODIs, and then proceeded tosweep Maurice Odumbe and Tikolo to distraction. Marillier struck bothof them for six, and an asking rate which had climbed to more than arun a ball quickly descended.But Kenya weren’t finished. Flower and Marillier were both snared byTony Suji – who was introduced in the 45th over of the innings – ineight balls, and when Andy Blignaut hoicked Odoyo straight to JosephAngara at midwicket, Zimbabwe needed 18 from 15 balls.Heath Streak, aided by some uncharacteristically sloppy work in thefield – Jimmy Kamande twice misfielded at long-off – made sure thatZimbabwe didn’t mess it up. The end came when Streak tonked TonySuji for six over long-off.Earlier, Zimbabwe had put in a disciplined performance in the field torestrict Kenya to 225. Kenya’s innings was characterised by plenty ofbatsmen getting starts, but no-one going on to convert that intoanything substantial.David Obuya clunked his way to 57 – his first fifty in one-dayinternationals – while Odoyo held the innings together at the end with aworkmanlike 46, but the rest of the batting fell away after promising alot. Kenya reached the four-an-over mark in the 26th over, with Tikoloand David Obuya going strong, but then lost three wickets in the next 12overs, and never quite regained the momentum.David Obuya and Brijal Patel put together 52 for the second wicket afterKennedy Obuya was nailed early on by Streak, but the best phase ofKenya’s innings came when Tikolo joined David Obuya in a 59-runstand.Obuya swished and missed plenty of times, but also connected with afew meaty blows, including an effortless six over backward square legoff Douglas Hondo. Tikolo’s was a classy knock. He struck only twofours in his 37, but rotated the strike superbly with deft flicks andfluent drives. However, the Kenyan innings began to unravel when DavidObuya hoicked Raymond Price to Gavin Rennie at long-off (114 for 3).Tikolo was dismissed against the run of play, top-edging a sweep offPrice to Marillier at square leg (131 for 5), while Odumbe – coming offan excellent World Cup – popped a return catch to Rennie.Odoyo and Hitesh Modi put the innings back on track with a sensiblepartnership, eschewing strokeplay and working the singles around toensure that Kenya batted through their 50 overs. But ultimately, the totalof 225 turned out to be about 15 too few.S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.