Ngoche siblings run riot

The Ngoche brothers James and Shem, turned on the heat at the Rose Bowl in Southampton to guide Kenya to a 65-run win over United Arab Emirates in a ICC World Cricket League match.

Riding on the back of half-centuries from Irfan Karim, Rakep Patel and Shem Ngoche, Kenya scored 270 for 6 from their 50 overs. In response, UAE were bundled out for 205 in 44.3 overs. James Ngoche, the off-spinner, finished with 5 for 26 while Shem, the left-arm spinner, took 2 for 32.

James performance on the day equaled his career personal best in List ‘A’ matches.

UAE’s total is reflective of the poor start after slipping to 37 for 2 and then 83 for 5, but they remained in the hunt when Mohammad Shahzad and Shaiman Anwar stabilised the innings. But that was before the Ngoches’ got rid of the two batsmen and put Kenya firmly in the driver’s seat.

James got his first wicket when Anwar backed away and exposed his stumps to allow him uproot the middle and off stumps.

Three overs later, James bagged the second, clattering the top of Amjad Javed’s stumps with a straight ball.

At 134 for 7, the wicket could have signaled the end of UAE’s hopes but a 62 runs stand between Mohammad Tauqir and Ahmed Raza gave the Asian side a lifeline until Ngoche made it three, by having Raza stumped in the 43rd over to leave them at 196 for 8.

UAE were at 196 for 9 the very next ball when James trapped Naveed.

James made it five in the 44th over when he had Tauqir caught by Nelson Mandela to end UAE chase with 205 runs on board. If UAE had put on a show as they did against Kenya earlier in the week, they would have had the chance to top the table. However, Kenyans proved much tougher nuts to crack this time round.

Asked to bat, Kenya got off to a decent start, courtesy Narendra Patel’s 32. UAE’s bowlers were in for more trouble as Karim, son of former Kenyan player Asif, got into his stride.

While Karim was all about carving out an innings, Rakep went about clearing the ropes on his way to an unbeaten 59 from 39 deliveries. Karim was out after a 107-ball 67, but it got worse for UAE when Shem came out and struck an unbeaten 36-ball 56 with four fours and four sixes. Following the performance by the Ngoches, Kenya tightened the leash to seal the deal and join UAE, Hong Kong and Namibia on two points from two games. The Netherlands currently leads the table with four points from two games.