Kenya v Namibia, Intercontinental Cup, Sharjah, 1st day

Namibia battle back after early setbacks

Cricinfo staff

January 29, 2008

Kenya 148 for 5 (Tikolo 45) trail Namibia 183 (Verwey 43*, Varaiya 3-33, Tikolo 3-24) by 35 runs
Scorecard

	Home away from home: Kenya's players celebrate an early wicket © Getty Images

In the build-up to the game Steve Tikolo, Kenya's captain, had expressed concerns about the alien conditions, and on winning the toss he stuck Namibia, coming into the match on the back of a win over UAE last week, in. The move paid off as his seamers made early breakthroughs before Kenya's three-pronged spin attack made the most of a surface already taking turn. Hiren Varaiya and Jimmy Kamande pegged back the middle-order, all of whom got starts, and then Steve Tikolo came on to mop up the tail.

The first part of Tikolo's gamble had paid off, but faced with batting in the fourth innings Kenya needed a decent first-innings lead. Although Maurice Ouma started confidently - he made 32 of the first 42 - wickets tumbled at the other end.

Tikolo and Collins Obuya, two of the stars of Kenya's 2003 World Cup, stopped the rot and added 66 for the fourth wicket. Tikolo, however, fell for 45 but Thomas Odoyo and Obuya saw them through to the close. AJ Burger, whose legspin took seven wickets against UAE, was less effective but is likely to be more of a threat as the match goes on.

© Cricinfo

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Stories

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Matches

Kenya v Namibia at Sharjah

Players/Umpires

Steve Tikolo

Hiren Varaiya

Series/Tournaments

ICC Intercontinental Cup

Teams

Kenya

Namibia