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Michael Holding
Played two won two. Not bad for the hosts. That's exactly how they needed to start this tournament. The talk here since I arrived has centered around the fact there has not been enough promotion of the tournament.
But with England winning the first two games, it should be enough to excite the locals.
Although Kenya beat West Indies in the last World Cup held in the Asian sub-continent, England only did what was expected when they won. Graeme Hick and Nasser Hussain batted impressively.
They only had 204 runs to achieve and it could have been a lot greater but for Darren Gough's second spell when he removed Ravindu Shah, the second top-scorer and Maurice Odumbe.
Before Gough's return, Kenya was doing well with Shah and Steve Tikolo, the top scorer, going great guns. Kenya's batting surely is more accomplished than their bowling and they were beginning to look threatening. But fortunately for England, they had a strike bowler with good pace to come back and change their fortunes.
It was movement offthe seam that influenced the inside edge from Shah but it was pure pace that influenced the removal of Odumbe.
Tikolo hung around long enough to top score, showing he is no minnow with the bat. He impressed with his stroke-play and handled both Gough and Alan Mullally without problem.
Another player who impressed was Thomas Odoyo batting lower down. He is enthusiastic, likes to hit the ball and hits it well too without slogging. Kenya could do well by inviting him to bat higher in the order.
In order to threaten Test-playing nations, Kenya have to find a couple of penetrative wicket-taking bowlers. While the Suji brothers, alongwith Thomas Odoyo, may be reasonable seamers, none of them are going to give top flight batsmen sleepless nights.
If the batting doesn't click, they are going to struggle as they did against Hick and Hussain.
England will have to grasp the fact that although four points are great after two matches, the points may not count for anything if and when they get into the Super Six.Kenya, surely have no chance of getting to the Super Six and if Sri Lanka don't improve, they won't be there either.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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