What Kenya and Canada lacked in terms of quality, they made up with an unbridled show of intensity. Desperate to make the best of what was probably their best and probably their only real chance of winning in this World Cup, the teams gave it all. In the end of a low-scoring contest, Canada, of the calmer of the two teams, cruised to a five-wicket victory. Kenya was left to deal with its first loss to Canada in three encounters in the World Cup and the prospect of returning home without a win.
After Henry Osinde's career-best four for 26 restricted Kenya to 198 — its highest in this World Cup — Canada covered the distance by riding on a 132-run fourth-wicket stand between Jimmy Hansra and skipper Ashish Bagai.
Rising to the occasion, Hansra and Bagai posted their maiden World Cup half centuries. Bagai had anticipated spin to play a major role in this game. Batting by choice, Kenya stumbled from the start and struggled to 106 for six before half-centuries from Tanmay Mishra and the experienced Thomas Odoyo gave its bowlers something to bowl at. Though spin did not play a decisive role he must be happy with the way things turned out.
Canada, which has chased down targets of 154 and 194 in the last two encounters against Kenya, added one more to the list. This was also the fifth successive time that Canada had come out undefeated against Kenya after having lost seven times in succession.
This was also Canada's second victory in World Cup matches. It was quite a comedy of errors with some poor out-cricket on view, more so from the Kenyans. Eventually, the team that committed lesser mistakes made merry.
With limited talent, exposure and experience, both teams struggled to seize the initiative, until the match-winning partnership blossomed. Henry Osinde, the fastest among the bowlers from the Associate nations, produced his career-best effort of four for 26 to lay the Kenyans for the better part of their innings.
In fact, Osinde's previous best of four for 33 was also against Kenya, in 2007. Osinde removed three of the top four batsmen in exchange of only 16 runs in his seven-over spell. He kept a disciplined line, pitched the ball up and reaped the harvest.
If he forced opener Morris Ouma and David Obuya to nick away going deliveries, he bowled the other opener Saren Waters with the one that came in. He struck again towards the end by cleaning up Nehemiah Odhiambo for his best analysis.
Mishra and Odoyo provided the only bright spots in the Kenyan innings. They both contributed 51 runs each but it was Mishra deserved more credit. He cut out all flamboyance after walking in at 41 for four and played his part in two successive half-century stands.
After losing the company of the seasoned Steve Tikolo, Mishra put on 52 runs with skipper Jimmy Kamande for the sixth wicket and another 57 with Odoyo for the seventh. Though Mishra tossed away his wicket soon after reaching his half century, Odoyo carried on till he was yorked off the last ball of the innings.
Kenya: M. Ouma c Baidwan b Osinde 0 (2b) , S. Waters b Osinde 2 (13b) , C. Obuya b Baidwan 31 (35b, 3x4, 1x6) , D. Obuya c Bagai b Osinde 2 (8b) , S. Tikolo lbw b Cheema 12 (20b, 1x4) , T. Mishra c Surkari b Davison 51 (73b, 3x4) , J. Kamande c Bagai b Balaji Rao 22 (58b, 3x4) , T. Odoyo b Baidwan 51 (62b, 5x4, 1x6) , N. Odhiambo b Osinde 4 (9b) , E. Otieno c Hansra b Cheema 8 (17b, 1x4) , J. Ngoche (not out) 1 (3b) ; Extras (lb-4, w-10): 14; Total (in 50 overs): 198.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-21, 4-41, 5-57, 6-109, 7-166, 8-171, 9-193.
Canada bowling: Osinde 10-2-26-4, Baidwan 10-1-41-2, Desai 3-0-20-0, Cheema 9-1-30-2, Hansra 3-0-15-0, Balaji Rao 10-0-36-1, Davison 5-0-26-1.
Canada: R. Gunasekera st. Ouma b Ngoche 18 (27b, 3x4) , R. Cheema b Otieno 17 (13b, 2x4, 1x6) , Z. Surkari (run out) 10 (26b, 1x4) , A. Bagai (not out) 64 (97b, 7x4) , J. Hansra c Ngoche b Odhiambo 70 (99b, 7X4, 2x6) , T. Gordon b Odhiambo 3 (11b) , John Davison (not out) 4 (1b, 1x4) ; Extras (b-1, nb-1, w-11): 13; Total (for five wkts. in 45.3 overs): 199.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-37, 3-48, 4-180, 5-186.
Kenya bowling: Odoyo 5-1-18-0, Otieno 8.3-0-45-1, Odhiambo 10-0-45-2, Ngoche 10-2-26-1, Kamande 5-0-25-0, C. Obuya 2-0-15-0, Tikolo 5-1-24-0.
Man-of-the-match: H. Osinde (Canada).
