da realbet： An annoying light but steady afternoon rain caused the first one-dayinternational between Zimbabwe and Kenya to be abandoned as a draw,depriving Zimbabwe of a probable victory as they were set a none too taxingtarget of 211 to win
da doce： John Ward08-Dec-2002An annoying light but steady afternoon rain caused the first one-dayinternational between Zimbabwe and Kenya to be abandoned as a draw,depriving Zimbabwe of a probable victory as they were set a none too taxingtarget of 211 to win.Kenya were no doubt pleased to win the toss and get the opportunity to batfirst. On the other hand, they had lost their captain and top batsman,Steve Tikolo, who was suffering from bronchitis. Official vice-captainThomas Odoyo Migai took over the reins. They suffered another early blowwhen they lost opener Ravindu Shah (0) to the fourth ball of the innings,edging a ball from Friend straight to Alistair Campbell in the slips.Kennedy Odoyo and Brijal Patel proceeded with caution, until Obuya uppercutHenry Olonga for a spectacular six over backward point. However he becameover-ambitious and when Douglas Hondo came on tried to force him off theback foot but hit a catch straight to Grant Flower at short extra cover; hedeparted for 18, and Kenya were 36 for two.Maurice Odumbe (5) did not last long before he too departed to theimpressive Friend, caught by Campbell at slip as Shah had been. BrijalPatel, the number three, looked an accomplished strokeplayer and drove Hondofor two cultured fours, followed by a cut to the boundary, all in the sameover.A useful partnership developed between Patel and the more experienced HiteshModi, and they added 54 before Patel (44) was beaten and bowled by a fasterball from Murphy that knocked the off stump out of the ground. Theleft-handed Modi grew in confidence, even playing the reverse sweep withaplomb, and Odoyo hit some powerful strokes, but they did not have theexperience to raise the scoring rate much beyond four an over.A sweep to the fine-leg boundary brought Modi his fifty, but then seemed tolose his fluency and in the end holed out to long-off off Doug Marillier for55. Kenya were 165 for five in the 40th over and the sixth-wicket pair hadadded 70, a new record for Kenya against Zimbabwe.Kenya now looked to Odoyo for a major innings but, backing up too far, hewas taken by surprise by a direct hit from Campbell that caught him out ofhis crease. He made 37, and Kenya were 176 for six in the 42nd over. Thetail did not wag, and it took the last pair to push the score past 200.Jimmy Kamande with 18 was the only later batsman to reach double figures.Zimbabwe suffered a bad start when Alistair Campbell, following a poorseries against Pakistan, ran himself out for 2; backing up too eagerly asnon-striker, he was stranded by Modi’s direct hit from mid-on.The weather was now playing a part, and a flurry of rain drove the playersoff briefly after three overs; they resumed, but play lasted only another 13balls before the rain returned, with Zimbabwe 18 for one. A light rainpersisted for some time, leaving the outfield slippery, and soon after 3.30local time the umpires called it a day.There was little to make the match memorable for anybody, but if there hadbeen a Man of the Match award for this abandoned game, perhaps the mostdeserving player would have been Travis Friend for one of his best openingspells; he gave Zimbabwe the early initiative which they never really lost.
