Kenya crush Canada to book final place

A delighted Peter Ongondo, who took 5 for 51, celebrates dismissing George Codrington © AFP

A superb performance from Kenya's new-ball bowlers put the hosts through to Wednesday's final with a crushing 158-run victory over Canada at Jaffrey's Sports Club. They will meet Scotland in the final but, far more importantly, they will qualify for September's Twenty20 World Championship and a cheque for $250,000. In the world of Associate cricket, that's like winning the National Lottery.

Set a target of 261, Canada had to get the runs inside 31 overs to overtake Kenya's tournament run-rate, and that proved their undoing as they looked to throw the bat at everything from the off. Their tactics were reportedly to use the top three to give them a flying start, but if that was the case, it backfired spectacularly. Within five overs of their reply, the game was as good as over as they crashed from 26 for 1 to 35 for 5, losing four wickets in 15 balls as Peter Ongondo (5 for 51) and Thomas Odoyo (4 for 39) blasted through the top order. While John Davison remained, Canada, who had to win themselves to have an outside chance of making the final, had a glimmer of hope. But he was clean bowled by Ongondo for 10 in the eighth over, and that was that.

Under leaden skies and on a damp pitch offering help to the seamers, Kenya also made a shaky start after winning the toss, losing both openers before Steve Tikolo and Ravi Shah engineered a recovery. But it was Tanmay Mishra (62) and Collins Obuya (48) who really kick-started an innings that was rather drifting, adding 107 in 22 overs for the fifth wicket, and then some late hitting saw the Kenyans to 250. In a week where the bat has generally dominated, there were concerns that the score was not enough - but they were unfounded.

Darron Reekers clips a leg-side boundary on his way to 104 © AFP

Netherlands ensured they finished in third place with a six-run victory over Ireland in the gloom at Nairobi Gymkhana. A late start because of overnight rain meant the game finished in virtual darkness as both sides agreed to play through to the death, and the ask of 14 off the final over proved just too much.

Netherlands started the day needing to win and hope that their run-rate would be good enough to see them past Kenya and Canada (assuming Canada had won). Stuck in on a drying track, Darron Reekers set them on their way to 260 for 7 with 104 off 83 balls, building the platform for Eric Szwarczynski to smack runs in the closing overs. William Porterfield (84) and Eoin Morgan (94), two of the tournament's leading batsmen, looked to have won the game as they took Ireland to 195 for 1, needing 65 off the last ten overs. But Porterfield's dismissal triggered a flurry of wickets and for the fourth time in the tournament Ireland failed within touching distance of the winning line.

Scotland's Gavin Hamilton straight drives past Bermuda's Janeiro Tucker during his 58 © AFP

Bermuda finally got some points on the board with an impressive five-wicket win over Scotland at Ruaraka. The match was never going to have any effect on the tournament as a whole, and Scotland, with one eye on Wednesday's final, never quite looked in top gear. Nevertheless, it gave some solace to a Bermudan side which has looked dreadfully off the pace.

Scotland, who took the chance to rest a couple of players, seemed to have done more than enough when they eased to 268 for 9, thanks largely to fifties from Ryan Watson and Gavin Hamilton. Bermuda made a poor start, sliding to 54 for 3 before David Hemp (25) and Janeiro Tucker (42) put them back on track, and then Irvine Romaine (85*) and Lionel Cann (49*) saw them home with an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 134 in 22 overs.

While the result may seem academic, the loss means that if the final is washed out - and the weather in Nairobi is far from settled - then Kenya would take the trophy by virtue of a superior run-rate as both sides have lost one game.