Ouma leads from the front

Morris Ouma played a captain’s innings with a knock of unbeaten ton in their second innings of the ICC Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday. His brilliant performance helped Kenya take a lead of 73 runs at stumps on the third day of the four-day event against Scotland at the Nairobi Gymkhana.

At the end of the day, the score on the board showed Kenya 91 all out & 288 for 7 in 114 overs and Scotland 306 all. Ouma (106 not out) was Kenya’s highest runs getter with a century, which came off 158 deliveries with 19 boundaries and a towering six. He shared a fifth wicket partnership of 65 with Hiren Varaiya (44 off 237 balls with four boundaries).

Played pivotal role

Varaiya played a pivotal role for Kenya and his innings became the foundation stone on which the team built on their innings. He assisted the side to get out of the woods with three outstanding partnerships. Besides Ouma, Varaiya also put on a third wicket stand of 50 with Collins Obuya (38), which was followed by a partnership of 53 with the former team captain, Steve Tikolo (34).

The partnership, which initially looked promising, was broken when Tikolo was trapped leg before wicket by Maji Haq just when he was settling down. Tikolo, Kenya’s prolific batsman who has the capability of piling a huge score, was Haq’s second victim. The Scot also claimed Obuya’s wicket; he was caught from behind by the wicketkeeper, Simon Smith.

The other wicket takers for Scotland were Dewald Nel (3-91) and Kyle Cotzer (2-16). With three wickets on hand, Kenya must fight tooth and nail today to force a draw. Ouma now has a big responsibility of guiding Elijah Otieno (seven not out) when the two share the crease on Thursday morning.

Teams
Kenya: Morris Ouma (captain), Jimmy Kamande (Vice Captain), David Obuya, Rakep Patel, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Hiren Varaiya, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Alex Obanda, Seren Waters, Shem Obado, Nelson Odhiambo, Alfred Luseno, James Ngoche;

Scotland: Gordon Drummond (captain), Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer, Euan Chalmers, Stewart Chalmers, Gordon Goudie, Majid Haq, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Dewald Nel, Mathew Parker, Qasim Sheikh, Simon Smith (wk)