RAMPANT GIBBS TEARS INTO KENYAN BOWLING

Gibbs, at this point, had slapped the Kenyan bowling all around the De Beer’s Diamond Oval in making 65 while Boeta Dippenaar, opening in this game in place of Gary Kirsten, was on 32.

Even though Kenya had put together their highest score against South Africa Gibbs quickly made the target appear no more than a formality as he raced to his 50 off just 39 deliveries, reaching the mark with his 11th four, a pull through midwicket off Thomas Odoyo.

So well was Gibbs striking the ball that even the mishits raced away to the boundary if they got through the inner ring and while Dippenaar was hardly stuck in his shell, he was made to look a passenger by Gibbs.

Gibbs, though, was given a life on 9 when Collins Otieno missed a sprawling chance at cover off Odoyo, a life the Kenyans were made to regret.

The South African 50 came up in the ninth over as the Kenyans suffered in blazing heat and their mood could not have been improved when Tony Suji came into the attack and almost twice found the inside edge of Dippenaar’s bat. On each occasion, though, the ball slipped harmless away past the leg stump.

It was Gibbs who took South Africa to three figures off the last ball of the 15th over, thrashing Tony Suji over extra cover for yet another boundary.

KENYA MAKE THEIR HIGHEST TOTAL AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA

After Ravindu Shah and Steve Tikolo had added 64 for the third wicket, Kenyan captain Maurice Odumbe and Thomas Odoyo put on 106 for the fifth wicket. But despite a valiant 60 from Odumbe and Odoyo’s 53, the east Africans’ final total did not seem likely to challenge the South Africans on a fine batting pitch.

Working from the theory that the final total can be calculated by doubling the score after 30 overs, the Kenyans fell well short. They had been 125 for four after 30 overs but added only 104 in their final 20 overs.

For all that, it was the best batting to come from the Kenyans in their three games so far in the tournament and it was their highest total against South Africa. Odumbe and Odoyo had both failed to set their series alight in their previous innings, but they got most of the basics right on Sunday, rotating the strike well and playing enough big shots to keep the attention of the South Africans focussed on the job at hand.

Indeed, Justin Kemp will remember the Kenyans well. He was hammered for 45 off the five overs he bowled during the innings.

At no stage to Odumbe seem overawed by the quality of then opposition and, indeed, the closest he came to getting out before his dismissal came when he 54. Shaun Pollock threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end and ricocheted down to the stumps at the other end where Odumbe had to scramble to make his ground.

He was eventually out after facing 93 deliveries, trapped leg before by Charl Langevedlt as he hit across the line.

Odoyo, meanwhile, reached his first one-day 50 before being bowled by Shaun Pollock, stepping away to leg to try to hit the South African captain through the off side.

Odumbe departed at 214 for five, Odoyo at 222 for six and the seventh Kenyan wicket went down at 223 when Martin Suji provided Pollock with a tame return catch.

Pollock was the most successful of the South African bowlers, finishing with three for 41

SHAH 50 BRINGS CHEER TO PLUCKY KENYANS

After 30 overs the Kenyans were 125 for four with Maurice Odumbe on 16 and Thmoas Odoyo on 8.

The third wicket stand, which came at marginally more than a run a ball, was finally broken by Makhaya Ntini who induced Tikolo to hook at a fast, short ball for Mark Boucher to pouch the faint touch. Tikolo had made 29 off 44 balls, hitting three fours and a six.

Shah, though, went on to reach his seventh one-day 50 and raise the Kenyan 100 with a single steered down to third man off Ntini. Shah had faced 62 balls at that point with the 100 coming up in the 24th over.

Justin Kemp had been hit out of the attack by Shah and Tikolo, conceding 31 in just three overs, and it was his replacement Nicky Boje who eventually accounted for Shah, persuading the tall right-hander to cut uppishly to backward point where Herschelle Gibbs held a diving two-handed catch. Shah’s 55 came off 67 deliveries and he had hit seven fours and a six.

The scoring rate understandably dropped with the departure of Shah as Odumbe and Odoyo played themselves in

SHAH AND TIKOLO CARRY ATTACK TO SOUTH AFRICA

The Kenyans were comprehensively blown away by India on Friday, after which captain Maurice Odumbe noted ruefully that probably the only way to deal with the defeat was to take his team out for a night on the town.

If this was the case, then it seemed to have some effect at least as Shah and Tikolo tried to carry the attack to the South Africans after another wobbly start to their innings.

Kennedy Otieno was out for 2 off the last ball of Shaun Pollock’s second over, steering a straightforward catch to Justin Kemp at second slip at 7 for one and David Otieno last not much longer, making 4 before he wafted at Charl Langeveldt to give the South African debutant his first international wicket, a straightforward catch behind taken by Mark Boucher.

At 18 for two, Kenya again looked like falling apart, but Shah suddenly came out of his shell to pull the last ball of Langeveldt’s four over over midwicket for four. To prove this was no fluke he put the first ball of Langeveldt’s next over away for another four in the same region.

Tikolo was a little fortunate to escape when he mispulled Pollock inches over Neil McKenzie’s head at square leg, but Shah had found his timing and when Justin Kemp replaced Pollock, the new bowler was put away for six and four to backward square off successive balls to raise the Kenyan 50.

His mood seemed infectious, Tikolo welcoming Makhaya Ntini into the attack with an enormous six flicked effortlessly high over wide mid on.

Shah and Tikolo both took boundaries off Kemp in the 15th over and when the fielding restrictions were lifted, Shah had 32 with Tikolo on 22.

ODUMBE CHOOSES TO BAT FIRST AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA

The wisdom of this decision remained to be seen. On Friday Kenya batted first against India in Bloemfontein and were bowled out for 90 in 37.1 overs in a game that was all over inside 50 overs.

The Kenyans made one change to the team trounced on Friday, Brijal Patel coming in for Peter Ochieng. The South Africans gave swing bowler Charl Langeveldt his international debut and also brought in Boeta Dippenaar and Justin Kemp. Gary Kirsten is nursing a torn thigh muscle, Andre Nel was released from the squad to play provincial cricket for Easterns over the weekend and Jacques Kallis was named as twelfth man.

South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje, Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini.

Kenya: Maurice Odumbe (capt), Kennedy Otieno, Ravindu Shah, David Otieno, Steve Tikolo, Thomas Odoyo, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Collins Otieno, Jimmy Kamande, Brijal Patel.

© CricInfo

Date-stamped : 14 Oct2001 - 18:24