The Kenyan No 4 Maurice Ouma enlivened proceedings at Colin Maiden Park in Auckland today as he took the Papua New Guinea bowlers apart and led his team to victory in the two teams' final match of the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

In a scintillating display, he raced to an unbeaten 150, reaching the landmark off the last ball of Kenya's 50 overs.

Favouring a straight drive, usually from two or three steps down the pitch, the slight 19-year-old took 104 balls for his century before needing just 27 to reach his final score. Until he resorted to some heavy across-the-line hitting late in his innings, Ouma balanced his advances down the pitch with exquisite square drives off the back foot.

With 20 fours and two sixes, he dominated an innings of 236/8 in which the next highest score was the 24 of the opener Anand Gore.

The rest of Kenya's batsmen may have contributed just 47 to the total but each of them stuck around long enough to develop a partnership with the right-hander as he devastated the PNG attack. Of the partnerships, none was more productive than that for the eighth wicket in which Ashish Karia contributed 10 toward the 66 extracted from overs 40 to 49.

Given that the PNG bowlers were having a painful experience, the figures of the opening medium pacer Gimapau Keimelo stood in sharp contrast to his partners. Taking the first two wickets to fall, the sharpish right-armer returned to pick up two more and, more important, withstand the Ouma onslaught. His four for 23 from 10 stood out in the PNG bowling as much as Ouma's 150 in the Kenyan batting.

However much Kenya may have been luxuriating in Ouma's achievement, the PNG openers soon brought them back to earth.

Frank Joseph and Clive Elly started with purpose, passing 50 in the ninth over. Joseph departed for 20 with the score 54 but Elly continued on, bringing up his 50 off 70 balls. He found some big-hitting support from his captain, Kohu Dai (23), as they took the score from 110 for five in the 23rd over to 154 in the 38th before an extravagant shot at the pace bowler Nehemiah Odhiambo saw the left-hander's stumps shattered and his aggressive knock ended at 69.

It should have been all over for PNG as the next three wickets fell cheaply, leaving them 163/9, still 74 short of their target.

However, the No 8, William Harry, and the last man, Greg Baeau, produced a mixture of big hitting, cheeky singles and a little luck as the Kenyans became rattled under the onslaught. The pair took PNG tantalising close at 211 in the 47th over.

That was as far as they got. With one of those awful mid-pitch mix-ups, the batsmen's luck ran out. Harry was the victim - run out for 40 - leaving Baeau not out 14 and PNG 25 runs short of what had seemed a most unlikely victory.

The best of the bowlers was the spinner Rajesh Premji, who bowled out his 10 overs, collecting three for 32. Odhiambo came back to collect two wickets including that of the danger man, Elly, finishing with two for 51 off his 10.

Kenya could thank their man-of-the-match Ouma and their resilience - if somewhat shaken at the end - for their only points of the tournament. PNG, with no points for their fortnight's endeavours, could take away pride for contributing to a cracking match.

© CricInfo