NAIROBI, Kenya, September 25 – Kenya beat Jersey by six wickets in their first match of the ICC Division 2 Challenge League at the Ruaraka Sports Club on Wednesday afternoon.
The home team won the toss and elected to field with Jonty Jenner topping the batting charts for the visitors courtesy of 47 runs off 33 balls.
Jersey then ended 207/10 in 48.4 overs, setting a target of 208 runs for the hosts.
The Kenyans produced an excellent batting performance, Rakep Patel producing a man-of-the-match performance with 84 runs off 76 balls (not out).
His ‘partner in crime’ was Irfan Karim who amassed 58 runs off 86 balls before he was bowled out Julius Sumerauer.
Up until that point, it had seemed Kenya were destined for an opening loss as opening batter Pushkar Samar could only muster 11 runs off 36 balls before he was sent packing by Nicholas Greenwood.
His batting partner, Neil Mugabe, suffered the same fate after amassing 17 runs off 21 balls.
Next came Dhiren Gondaria who mustered 14 runs off 12 balls before falling to Sumerauer.
It was Karim to the rescue as his combination with Patel racked up a combined 142 runs.
Following Karim’s dismissal, the arrival of Sachin Bhudiya helped shore up the win as Kenya ended on 208/4 in 38.5 overs.
