da dobrowin： Kenya pulled off the shock of the tournament with a remarkable 53-run victory against Sri Lanka in Nairobi
24-Feb-2003Kenya pulled off the shock of the tournament with a remarkable 53 runvictory against the Sri Lankans at Nairobi on Monday.Sri Lanka, firm favourites after three straight victories, were bundled outfor 157 in 45 overs chasing the 210 for nine scored by Kenya early in theday.Cheered on by a capacity partisan home crowd, the Kenya bowlers and fieldersproduced an electric display in the field, bowling tightly and fieldingbrilliantly.Leg-spinner Collins Obuya was adjudged man of the match for a superb spellof bowling, running through the Sri Lankan middle order to claim fivewickets for 24 from ten overs, the best ever figures by a Kenyan.Only Aravinda de Silva, who scored 41 from 53 deliveries, provided anyresistance on a slow pitch.Earlier, Kennedy Otieno smashed an entertaining 60 from 88 balls,hitting eight fours and two sixes as Kenya cobbled together their moderatetotal.It was Kenya’s first win against Sri Lanka, their tenth ODI victory, and their greatest day since they defeated West Indies at Poona in the 1996 World Cup.The win leaves Kenya, who picked up four points after New Zealand forfeitedtheir game for security reasons, with a good chance of qualifying for theSuper Sixes.They now move into second position in the table with two matches to play,one of which will be against the out-of-sorts Bangladeshis.Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign may not lie in tatters but they now face afight to qualify for the second round with difficult matches to be playedagainst West Indies and South Africa.Jayasuriya (3) failed for the second consecutive innings after chipping acatch to wide mid on.Marvan Atapattu (23) started the innings in glorious fashion with a brace ofboundaries but eventually came unstuck as he played onto his stumps to giftThomas Odoyo his 50th ODI wicket.Hashan Tillakaratne (23), dropped in the gully when he had made eight,looked to have settled during a 32 run partnership with veteran Aravinda deSilva before hoisting a catch into the deep off Obuya.De Silva counterattacked in characteristically positive fashion, pulling asix high over square leg.Mahela Jayawardene (5), desperately looking for form before key matchesagainst West Indies and South Africa, could have been run out early on wereit not for a fumble in the covers.But the rusty looking right-hander did not make Kenya pay for a rarefielding slip, poking a catch straight back to Obuya off a leading edge ashe tried to flick a full toss through the leg-side.Kumar Sangakkara (5) was then athletically caught by a tumbling Otienobehind the stumps and when De Silva was caught behind whilst trying to forceObuya through the off-side Sri Lanka were in dire straits on 112 for six.Russel Arnold (25*), the last remaining specialist batsman, struggled tohold the innings together but he was unable to claim back the initiative aswickets continued to fall.Vaas (4) was caught and bowled and then Prabath Nissanka (2) and MuttiahMuralitharan (10) were well-caught on the boundary edge of the skipper SteveTikolo.When Dilhara Fernando missed a reverse sweep and was bowled the Kenyan’svictory was complete and the wild celebrations commenced.Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had elected to field first against theKenyans, a surprise decision on an excellent batting surface that promisedplenty of runs.The move looked to have been justified when Chaminda Vaas grabbed a secondball wicket, trapping Ravindu Shah lbw with a curving inswinger.But Otieno reacted aggressively to the early loss, swinging Vaas for twotowering sixes and a flurry of boundaries, dashing Sri Lankan hopes ofanother early finish.Nevertheless Sri Lanka made inroads: Brijal Patel (12) edged an off-cutterbehind and Muralitharan trapped star batsman Steve Tikolo (10) lbw with asharply turning off-break.When Otieno was snared in the deep the innings then lost momentum withHitesh Modi and former captain Maurice Odumbe struggling against the SriLankan spinners, adding 40 runs in 10 overs.The left-handed Modi, dropped at fine leg on nine and missed again bywicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara behind the stumps on 11, scored 26 from 56deliveries before being bowled as he tried to reverse sweep Muralitharan.Thomas Odoyo (6) was then caught behind off Vaas after the left-armer waspulled back into the attack for his second spell of the day.Vaas, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, finished with three for 41 fromhis ten overs.Odumbe (26) was brilliantly caught by Russel Arnold at mid-wicket and TonySuji was bowled by Muralitharan to leave Kenya in trouble on 178 for 8.However, Peter Ongondo then finished the innings with a flourish scoring 20from 18 balls and adding 32 in 4.1 overs with Collins Obuya (11*).It appeared that Sri Lanka would stroll to victory but no one hadanticipated such and electric display from the Kenyans in the field.