DUBAI, UAE, March 14- Irfan Karim’s first ODI hundred in only his fourth match took Kenya to a six-wicket win against Canada in the World Cricket League Championship in Dubai. Chasing 254, Kenya reached the target with two overs to spare as Karim scored 112 and almost carried his bat through.
Karim and Alex Obanda gave Kenya a strong start with an opening stand of 48 off 40 deliveries. After Obanda was caught behind, Karim and Morris Ouma put together 76 for the second wicket before Ouma was dismissed for 34.
Collins Obuya (57) and Karim almost took them home, but both were dismissed by seamer Rayyan Pathan in consecutive overs. The required run-rate wasn’t challenging enough to devoid them of a win.
Earlier, after Canada chose to bat, most of their top and middle-order batsmen got starts but could not convert them into big scores.
Hiral Patel scored 36 off 37 and stitched a 95-run stand with Rizwan Cheema (55) for the first wicket.
Once Patel fell, Ruvindu Gunasekera scored 24 off 42 and No. 4 Jimmy Hansra scored 12 off 24. Both were dismissed, however, before Raza-ur-Rehman and Damodar Daesrath lifted the run-rate, scoring 76 in 12 overs.
However, Canada lost their last five wickets for 23 runs from there to settle for 253 for 9 which eventually proved insufficient.
Kenya 254 for 4 (Karim 112, Obuya 57) beat Canada 253 for 9 (Cheema 55, Daesrath 40, Obuya 2-15) by six wickets Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
– Cricinfo
