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| April 9, 2003 | Wednesday | Safar 6, 1424 |
Fiery Sami sends Kenya to crushing defeat
SHARJAH (United Arab Emirates), April 8: Pakistan warmed up for the Sharjah Cup final against Zimbabwe in two days’ time by whipping Kenya by 143 runs in the Sharjah Cup here on Tuesday.
Electing to take first strike, Pakistan rattled up 286-8 from their 50 overs and shot out the World Cup semifinalists for 143 in the inconsequential last league match.
Mohammad Sami grabbed four wickets and ran out Thomas Odoyo with a direct hit from the boundary as Kenya, 137-5 at one stage, lost their last five wickets for six runs.
Pakistan, without eight sacked stars, including Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul-Haq, won all three league matches and now clash with Zimbabwe in Thursday’s final.
Shoaib Malik hit 76 off 58 balls as Pakistan notched up the highest total in the otherwise low-scoring tournament.
Misbah-ul-Haq made 42 in his first appearance here, while skipper Rashid Latif slammed 38 off 31 in a run-a-ball stand of 72 for the sixth wicket with Shoaib.
Kenya, who had also lost both their previous matches to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, did well to restrict Pakistan to 150-5 in the 35th over.
But Shoaib and Rashid wrested the initiative with bold hitting, the Pakistan captain taking two boundaries and two sixes in his aggressive knock.
Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo was the most successful bowler for the Africans, his steady off-spin gaining the wickets of Misbah, Yousuf Youhana and Rashid.
Pakistan’s new opener Mohammad Hafeez provided an entertaining start with a quickfire 36 and Faisal Iqbal made 23 as their team raced to 102-2.
The innings ended with Pakistan plundering 108 runs in the last 10 overs to set Kenya a stiff target of 5.8 runs an over under lights.
It proved to be beyond Kenya’s reach as they slipped to 31-4 by the eighth over, Sami claiming the key wickets of Brijal Patel and Tikolo.
The lone resistence came from Maurice Odumbe, whose 54 off 65 balls included six boundaries, four of them in Umar Gul’s first over.
Sami returned for his second spell to have Hitesh Modi caught behind and then trapped last man Joseph Angara leg-before to signal Pakistan’s emphatic win.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
M. Hafeez c K. Obuya b Ongondo 36
Taufiq Umar b Angara 17
Faisal Iqbal c Odumbe b C. Obuya 23
Misbah-ul-Haq c Patel b Tikolo 42
Yousuf Youhana b Tikolo 18
Shoaib Malik c C. Obuya b Ongondo 76
Rashid Latif b Tikolo 38
Naveed-ul-Hasan c D. Obuya b Odoyo 13
Mohammad Sami not out 12
Danish Kaneria not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7, NB-2) 11
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 286
FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-63, 3-102, 4-129, 5-150, 6-222, 7-265, 8-280.
DID NOT BAT: Umar Gul.
BOWLING: Odoyo 10-1-42-1 (1nb); Ongondo 9-0-57-2 (1nb, 5w); Angara 8-0-52-1 (1w); C.O. Obuya 9-0-56-1; Odumbe 6-0-35-0; Tikolo 8-0-42-3 (1w).
KENYA:
K.O. Obuya c Rashid b Rana Naveed 9
D.O. Obuya run out 10
B.J. Patel b Sami 0
S.O. Tikolo c Rashid b Sami 7
T.M. Odoyo run out 22
M.O. Odumbe c Rashid b Shoaib 54
H.S. Modi c Rashid b Sami 27
C.O. Obuya lbw b Hafeez 0
J.A. Kamande lbw b Umar 3
P.J. Ongondo not out 0
J.O. Angara lbw b Sami 0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5, NB-5) 11
TOTAL (all out, 31.4 overs) 143
FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-18, 3-31, 4-31, 5-84, 6-137, 7-138, 8-143, 9-143.
BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 6.4-0-25-4 (1nb, 2w); Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan 6-1-32-1 (1nb, 2w); Umar Gul 2-0-23-1; Danish Kaneria 6-2-16-0; Shoaib Malik 8-1-42-1 (3nb, 1w); Mohammad Hafeez 3-1-4-1.
RESULT: Pakistan won by 143 runs.
UMPIRES: K.C. Barbour (Zimbabwe) and A.V. Jayaprakash (India).
TV UMPIRE: B. Doctrove (West Indies).
MATCH REFEREE: A.M. Ebrahim (Zimbabwe).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shoaib Malik.
THURSDAY’S FINAL: Pakistan v Zimbabwe.
Final GROUP standings
Standings after Tuesday’s final group match (tabulate under — played, won, lost, no result, tied, bonus points, total points, run rate):
Pakistan 3 3 0 0 0 2 17 +1.51
Zimbabwe 3 2 1 0 0 0 10 -0.35
Sri Lanka 3 1 2 0 0 1 8 +0.74
Kenya 3 0 3 0 0 0 1 -1.88
—AFP/Reuters
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