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| March 5, 2003 | Wednesday | Muharram 1, 1424 |
West Indians go out on high note
KIMBERLEY (South Africa), March 4: West Indies ended their disappointing World Cup campaign with an emphatic 142-run win over Kenya on Tuesday that made a mockery of the African team’s qualification for the Super Six.
Opening batsman Chris Gayle smashed 119 off 151 balls to help West Indies amass a respectable total of 246 for seven in the Group ‘B’ match before the Caribbean bowlers demolished the Kenyans for a miserable 104 inside 36 overs.
Vasbert Drakes captured career-best figures of five for 33 including three wickets in eight balls, and Jermaine Lawson took two wickets on his first appearance of the tournament, at times bowling in excess of 150 km/h.
The Kenyan batting was hopelessly equipped to deal with the ferocity of the West Indian quicks, with only Peter Ongondo, who top-scored with 24 late in the innings, showing any real resistance.
The match could not have been more one-sided but the result still had no effect on the competition with West Indies, world champions in 1975 and 1979, missing out on the second round by just two points.
West Indies could easily rue their misfortune having lost two certain points when their match against Bangladesh was washed out by rain, while Kenya collected four free points when New Zealand refused to travel to Nairobi because of security concerns. Hooper’s side beat South Africa, in the tournament’s opening match, and Canada, but lost to New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
Despite having little to play for except pride, West Indies still were keen to show why they were hard done by with a comprehensive display.
Gayle cracked his first hundred of the tournament and Shivnarine Chanderpaul also helped himself to a half-century as Kenya’s bowlers struggled to make any real impression on a flat and at times lifeless pitch, relying on West Indian errors to make breakthroughs.
Gayle and Chanderpaul piled on 122 for the first wicket with Chanderpaul reaching his fifty off 46 balls and Gayle from 88 deliveries.
Chanderpaul was the more aggressive, striking seven boundaries and two sixes, off successive balls from Maurice Odumbe, before his impatience got the better of him on 66 and he top-edged an attempted sweep off Collins Obuya to Joseph Angara.
Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell and Hooper also threw their wickets away cheaply, but Gayle kept the runs flowing with a powerful performance that came too late to save his team from an early exit.
The Jamaican, who had managed just one half-century in his previous five World Cup games, reached his fifth One-day International hundred off 143 balls then went on the rampage, smashing two sixes, one which landed outside the De Beers Diamond Oval, and two more boundaries before he was caught at deep backward point off Angara.
Kenya lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Drakes had Kennedy Obuya caught at fine leg for three, then Gayle took a juggling catch at second slip to remove Ravindu Shah and give Mervyn Dillon his only wicket.
Drakes, 33, dismissed Brijal Patel and Hitesh Modi in successive deliveries. He missed out a hat trick but added the scalp of Steve Tikolo in his next over to complete his second five-wicket haul in One-day Internationals.
The Kenyan tail showed some signs of defiance when the result was already academic.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES:
C.H. Gayle c D. Obuya b Angara 119
S. Chanderpaul c Angara b C. Obuya 66
B.C. Lara c D. Obuya b Tikolo 10
M.N. Samuels c Patel b Odumbe 14
R.L. Powell c K. Obuya b Odumbe 8
C.L. Hooper st K. Obuya b Angara 6
W.W. Hinds b Suji 10
R.D. Jacobs not out 9
V.C. Drakes not out 1
EXTRAS (W-3) 3
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 246
FALL OF WKTS: 1-122, 2-158, 3-182, 4-196, 5-222, 6-224, 7-245.
DID NOT BAT: M. Dillon, J.J.C. Lawson.
BOWLING: Suji 10-1-38-1; Angara 7-0-53-2; Ongondo 5-0-17-0; Odumbe 10-0-62-2; C.O. Obuya 10-0-48-1; Tikolo 8-0-28-1.
KENYA:
K.O. Obuya c Dillon b Drakes 3
R.D. Shah c Gayle b Dillon 12
B.J. Patel c Lara b Drakes 11
S.O. Tikolo lbw b Drakes 12
H.S. Modi c Jacobs b Drakes 0
M.O. Odumbe hit wkt b Lawson 0
D.O. Obuya c Powell b Drakes 4
C.O. Obuya c Powell b Lawson 13
P.J. Ongondo b Powell 24
M.A. Suji c Chanderpaul b Hinds 13
J.O. Angara not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-8, NB-1) 12
TOTAL (all out, 35.5 overs) 104
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-26, 3-34, 4-34, 5-43, 6-43, 7-54, 8-62, 9-102.
BOWLING: Dillon 10-1-31-1; Drakes 10-2-33-5; Lawson 8-0-16-2; Powell 4-2-8-1; Chanderpaul 2-0-6-0; Hinds 1.5-0-7-1.
RESULT: West Indies won by 142 runs.
UMPIRES: D.R. Shepherd (England) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: K.C. Barbour (Zimbabwe).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Chris Gayle.—Reuters
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