Kenya registered a vital win on Friday in the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 as they continued their bid for promotion to ICC World Cricket League Division 2.
There was plenty of tension at the Oman Club Turf 2 as Kenya made it two wins from four with a narrow 12 run triumph against Singapore to stay level with Singapore at the table. The two teams are tied at 4 points and are only 2 points away from USA who are second.
Kenya’s decision to bat first in their must-win clash with Singapore paid immediate dividends as Narendra Kalyan Patel (68), Dhiren Gondaria (42) and Alex Obanda (23) put on 113 for the first two wickets.
Anantha Krishna (3-48) and Anish Paraam (3-29) did their best to put the brakes on Kenya’s onslaught but Rakep Patel (52) and Nelson Odhiambo (80) from only 58 balls continued the charge as they reached 324-9 from their 50 overs.
Singapore’s chase was consistent with all of the top seven attaining over 20 runs, but only Paraam (85) really kicked on. With Emmanuel Bundi Ringera (4-45) picking up wickets all will, Singapore in the end left themselves too much to do as they were bowled out for 312 in the final over
Meanwhile, Oman beat USA by 4 wickets with three balls to spare. The hosts’ owed much of their dominance to Aqib Ilyas (100) although earlier on, Kaleemullah (3-43) had been key in restricting the USA to 213-8. Kenya’s hopes of taking the second promotion spot still hang in balance but a healthy net run rate and victory over Denmark in their final game is likely to see them through.
