Samuels century guides West Indies to victory

West Indies 268 for 6 (Samuels 100, Gayle 75) beat Kenya 247 for 7 (C Obuya 54) by 21 runs
Scorecard

West Indies sealed a 21-run victory over Kenya after Marlon Samuels smashed a century in a World Cup warm-up match at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium in Jamaica. Samuels shrugged off recent allegations of passing vital team information to an Indian bookie on his side's last tour of the subcontinent to hit seven fours and two sixes before he retired on 100, as West Indies set Kenya 269 to win.

A handful of the Kenyan batsmen got starts, but no one was able to carry on and the visitors were restricted to 247 for 7. Collins Obuya struck an unbeaten 54 to top score for Kenya, Ravindu Shah supported with 41, the captain Steve Tikolo made 34 and Tanmay Mishra got 22.

Kenya suffered a setback in the third over when David Obuya was caught at first slip for 7 off Daren Powell, who also had Maurice Ouma caught in the same position for 9, leaving Kenya at 40 for 2. Corey Collymore then bowled Malhar Patel for 12 in the 15th over before he deceived Shah with a slower ball and had him caught at mid-on. Obuya put on 55 for the seventh wicket with Thomas Odoyo, who collected 24, to beef up the Kenyan total.

The Kenyans were unable to control West Indies' scoring, as Samuels exploded in the latter stages to boost West Indies to 268 for 6. After Shivnarine Chanderpaul was caught at second slip off Thomas Odoyo for zero in the third over, the left-handers Chris Gayle and Devon Smith added 58 to provide some momentum.

Gayle reached his half-century before trying to reverse-sweep and was bowled for 75 off 90 balls, which included nine fours and a six. Samuels emerged from an uncertain start and reached his century when he guided Lameck Onyango to third man for a single. He left for the dressing room immediately to give the teenager Kieron Pollard (14) a chance.