Scots toil as Kenya fight back

Mike Stanger reports on the third day's I-Cup play at the Gymkhana Stadium in Nairobi, as Kenya gave themselves an outside chance of staving off defeat by Scotland.

It was a frustrating third day for Scotland in their Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya in Nairobi. Players made mistakes, to be sure, but some of their more confident appeals fell on stony ground.

And the chief beneficiary was Kenya captain Maurice Ouma, who survived two lbw shouts from Dewald Nel and ended the day unbeaten on 106* as Kenya took a 73-run lead while Scotland added another six wickets to their overnight haul.

With one-day remaining, there are three more to capture, but the longer it takes Scotland to clean up the tail, the more nerve-wracking will the final run-chase become.

It took only a few overs before Nel (pictured) captured the first wicket of the day, his second of the innings, Patel caught behind - a good two-handed catch by Simon Smith diving to his right - for 26, of which 24 came in boundaries.

Twelve overs later, skipper Gordon Drummond turned to Majid Haq for spin inspiration, which came soon after as Thomas Obuya slashed at a ball outside off-stump and gave Smith his second catch: 97 for three.

Lunch followed, perhaps dulling Scottish reactions in the field, because Ewan Chalmers grounded an edge from nightwatchman Varaiya, who added a further 25 runs or so and survived beyond the tea interval before he was finally winkled out for 44, fifth wicket down.

Meanwhile, former Kenyan skipper Steve Tikolo had raced to 34, lost concentration and was trapped in front, Haq’s second wicket: 148 for four.

Maurice Ouma, who had opened the Kenyan first innings, had reserved his appearance until this moment. The longer he stayed, the greater his self-confidence, and he went on to achieve a fine century, of which no fewer than 72 runs came from boundaries, and lived to fight a final day.

Scotland picked up two cheap wickets in the final session, both clean bowled by part-time bowler Kyle Coetzer (pictured right, for those who have never seen him in this capacity before). Kamande offered no shot, and Nehemiah Odhiambo was yorked.

The bowlers toiled long and hard, with 44 maiden overs in the day. Nel’s haul of 28-7-91-3 was top of the pile, but Haq’s stint of 23-11-39-2 was impressive, and perhaps the least lucky was Ross Lyons, who contrived to drop Ouma’s return catch 10 overs from stumps, when the Kenyan was on 90.

Let’s hope the Scots don't take too long to finish off their bowling task in the morning, when the pitch might be refreshed with some dewy dampness.

Day 3 Scoreboard:  Kenya 91ao and 288-7 (Ouma 106*, Nel 3-91, Haq 2-39, Coetzer 2-16) lead Scotland 306ao by 73 runs.

Day 3 Commentary

Day 2 Report

Day 1 Report

Pictures courtesy of the ICC