The first 50 runs came in the sixth over as the batsmen tucked into the Kenyan bowlers. However, having got going at such a frenetic pace, they then started to lose wickets.

First to go was Hayden, who got a ball from Peter Ongondo that was probably a little too full to pull resulting in a catch to mid-wicket. Gilchrist could have followed his partner in the seventh over, but Martin Suji put down a simple chance at mid-wicket off the bowling of his brother Tony. Gilchrist tends to punish such errors, and he did on this occasion.

Gilchrist brought up his fifty with a four off Collins Obuya (from 37 balls with nine fours and a six) and then hoisted two sweeps for six in the same over. One hit the very top of the stand but the next sailed high over the top and out of the ground.

At the other end, Ongondo was bowling with rather more control than his colleagues and found a good one that Gilchrist edged to David Obuya who was substituting behind the stumps in place of his brother Kennedy who was nursing his injured (but unbroken) arm sustained while batting. Steve Tikolo was off the field as well suffering from a fever, but the Kenyans on the field suddenly raised the temperature with more wickets.

Veteran Asif Karim came into the attack and in his first over snared Ponting lbw. In his next over he found the edge of Darren Lehmann’s bat and David Obuya had another victim. Three balls later, Brad Hogg was beaten through the air and off the pitch to give Karim a return catch and if 117 for five in the 18th over did not exactly represent a crisis, there was still work for Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey to do.

Shah went down on one knee to sweep a ball from outside off-stump and top edged the ball high to backward square leg where substitute Nathan Hauritz made a lot of ground to hang onto the catch. Shah was just four runs short of a fifty and had put on 79 with his captain while looking at ease in this elevated company.

Hitesh Modi did not look quite as comfortable, especially when fending off balls he knew little about when Lee was brought back into the attack. However, he stayed with Tikolo as the captain felt the time had come to lift the scoring rate and contributed valuable runs of his own as he warmed to the task in hand.

Tkolo did get the board moving in the right direction but having brought up his fifty he lofted Darren Lehmann to long-off where Andy Bichel took the catch. Tikolo has not been in prime form in this tournament, so the runs he scored in this innings, against this attack, will do him no harm going into the semi-final.

Bichel himself claimed the next wicket, finding the edge of Collins Obuya’s bat for Gilchrist to do the rest, and then repeated the trick four balls later to dismiss Peter Ongondo. Tony Suji was caught at point by Ponting off Lehmann, leaving brother Martin to strike one six off Bichel over extra cover among some inventive shots as he and Modi played out the overs.

To bat out their full allocation of overs and to recover to 174 for eight at the end of them after such a traumatic start displayed admirable determination and no little courage. The Australians would not have spent too long in the break between innings worrying about the task in front of them, but Ponting will want his top batsmen to find the form to knock the runs off in style.

It was in the fourth over that Lee wreaked havoc in the Kenyan batting order. He was gaining considerable bounce from a true batting surface and Kennedy Otieno (or Obuya) judged correctly that a ball outside the off-stump would lift too high to be of concern to him. Unfortunately for the batsman, as he lifted his bat out of harm’s way, the ball struck the point of his left elbow just above his armguard and deflected onto the stumps. Otieno crumpled into a heap with the pain before being helped off.

The next ball was a beauty, of full length and straight. Brijal Patel could do no more than deflect it to Ricky Ponting at second slip. David Obouya was next in – and next out. Lee produced a fast yorker to complete the second hat-trick of this World Cup and the fourth in all with an absolute ripper that might have found a way through the defences of any batsman in the world. After his exploits at the end of New Zealand’s innings, Lee had figures of eight wickets for three runs in 27 balls over the two matches.

Captain Steve Tikolo joined Ravindu Shah at least managed to halt the procession to the pavilion, and even to take the attack on with a series of elegant strokes using the pace of the ball onto the bat. They were unable to impose themselves on the attack, even when Lee was rested, but the runs continued to accrue so that by the time they reached the half-way mark in their innings Shah was on 45, Tikolo on 22 and Kenya were 81 for three.

There is one change to the Australian side, with Michael Bevan missing out because of a slight back injury. Andrew Symonds returns to the team after being injured himself for the last match – the first time he has ever missed a match because of injury.

Kenya have decided to leave Maurice Odumbe out and Brijal Patel comes in. Odumbe has been in prime form but has reached that stage of his career when he might appreciate a match off, especially against an Australian attack that might have damaged his confidence. Thomas Odoyo is also out with a back problem.

Kenya: +KO Otieno, RD Shah, BJ Patel, HS Modi, DO Obuya, *SO Tikolo, CO Obuya, AO Suji, MA Suji, PJ Ongondo, AY Karim.

Australia: +AC Gilchrist, ML Hayden, *RT Ponting, DR Martyn, DS Lehmann, A Symonds, GB Hogg, IJ Harvey, AJ Bichel, B Lee, GD McGrath.