Former national cricket team skipper Maurice Odumbe grabbed four wickets to help bowl Stray Lions to their first Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super League title.
Odumbe, who has been through thick and thin in his cricket career since being banned by International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2005 put on a great performance to lead Stray Lions to an eight-run win over Swamibapa. With the news that Kanbis had comfortably beaten Sikh Union, Swamibapa needed to successfully chase 253 to throw the league title wide open. They had a good start standing at 87 for 0 after 10 overs until when Odumbe struck.
From the ten overs, Odumbe conceded 28 wickets but rattled Swamibapa by sending all their top four batsmen back to the pavilion with his spin.
Odumbe broke what was a dangerous start by opener Alex Obanda and Naman Patel by trapping Obanda for an lbw on 47 from 33 balls. When it appeared Swamibapa were on course of regaining their footing, Odumbe cracked the inning more with another lbw—trapping Naman on 34 runs. Odumbe had his third wicket in his sixth over when he clean bowled Rakesh Kahar on 15 with the board at 126 runs. Maurice Ouma remained composed and stitched up the chase in 52 runs stand for the fourth wicket with Emmanuel Bundi. With all their three main spinners and Swamibapa not letting it go, Stray Lions turned to Collins Obuya as the fourth spinner and that paid dividends immediately as he picked two wickets in nine balls.
Obuya broke Ouma-Bundi stand when he trapped Bundi lbw for 20 runs. Nehemiah Odhiambo was the next to fall when he was also trapped for a duck two balls later to leave them on 173 for five. Odumbe got his fourth wicket when he had Saumil Patel top, edging his delivery for a duck. Obuya got the big wicket of Ouma in the 43rd over when he bowled him for 38.
Despite the fall of the top and middle order, Swamibapa still had hope of winning the match but the return of Wilkin Mota into the attack changed the whole angle of the match as he picked all the tail end wickets. With two overs to go, Swamibapa needed 17 to win with Jadavji Bhimji and James Ngoche in the middle. Varaiya conceded eight in the second last over, leaving them with nine to win off six. Mota bowled Ngoche with the first ball of the match to spark celebration in Stray Lions’ den.
Earlier, Obuya had top-scored for Stray Lions with 64 from 108 balls. As much as the strike rate appeared low, it was what brought Stray Lions back into the game after they had found themselves in trouble at 56 for 3.
