Battered Kenya face Sri Lanka at ICC World Cup
Aveet Desai was Kenya’s leading wicket taker with figures of 3-54 in their 222 runs group match loss to West Indies on January 20, 2018. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Kamanda rues inability to deal with bowling of opponents.
- East African lads relegated to Plate quarters as they chase after first tourney win.
Kenya face Sri Lanka on Tuesday in the Plate quarter-finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Lincoln Green, Christchurch.
The Kenyan lads finished at the bottom of Group “A” without a point after losing all their games.
Sri Lanka were third in Group “D” with two points.
Kenya lost their last match by 222 rounds to West Indies on Saturday.
Batting first West Indies set a target of 319 for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Alick Athanze knocked an unbeaten century, 116 that came off 93 deliveries with 15 boundaries and a six.
He top scored for his team and was named player-of-the match.
In reply, Kenya were routed for a paltry 96 in just 24.4 overs. Aman Gandhi (37 off 40 balls with seven fours) top scored for Kenya.
“The two openers, Gandhi and Kavinya started very well and played as per our plan of getting at least five runs per over and we were 50 for no loss in the first 10 overs,” said Kenya coach Jimmy Kamande.
He added: “But things went haywire when the boys were overwhelmed by the bowling of both Yadram and the slow left-arm orthodox bowler.”
Athanze shared a seventh wicket partnership of 119 with Nyeem Young (57 off 45 balls with three boundaries and same number of sixes). The best stand for the side. The partnership was broken when Gerald Mwendwa (1/42) had Young caught by Thomas Ochieng.
Kimani Mellius (60 off 45 balls with 11 boundaries and a six), Kirstan Kallicharan (36 off 39 balls with three boundaries and two sixes), Jeavor Royal (24 off 25 balls with three boundaries and a six) and Keagan Simmons (17 off 47 balls with a boundary) were West Indies main runs getters.
Aveet Desai was Kenya’s leading wicket taker with three for 54. Abhishekh Chidambaran (1/55) and Sukdeep Singh (1/54) were the other wicket takers.
Sachin Bhundia (19 off 20 balls with two boundaries) and Dennis Kavinya (18 off 39 balls with three boundaries) were the other batsmen who posted meaningful runs on the scoreboard.
In the Super League quarter-finals, England will face Australia tomorrow at Lincoln Green while Pakistan will fight it out with South Africa on Wednesday at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
On Thursday New Zealand will meet Afghanistan at Hagley Oval and on Friday India will fight it out with Bangladesh at John Davies Oval, Queenstown.
West Indies right-arm medium pacer, Bhaskar Yadam was Kenya’s main destroyer with five wickets for 18.
Two Plate quarter-finals will be played today: Canada verses Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe verses Namibia, before Kenya take to the field on Tuesday.
