By Amjid Javed
September 15 2004

Here's the match report for the rather one sided clash at Edgbaston between Pakistan and Kenya, a game dominated by Pakistan's spinners Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi. Pakistan warmed up for the almighty clash with India on September the 19th by crushing Kenya by 7 wickets at Edgbaston.

The day started off with Pakistan skipper Inzamam ul-Haq winning the toss and having no hesitation he asked the Kenyans to bat. The wicket was brown in colour with a tinge of green and was expected to provide early assistance for Pakistans mixture of pace and seam bowlers.

Kenya got off the worst possible start when opener Ravindu Shah slashed a wide half-tracker straight into the hands off Shahid Afridi off the bowling of Naveed ul-Hasan. Kenya were reeling on 2/1. But then Kenya started to slowly but surely bat solidly. Kennedy Otieno and Maurice Ouma, who made a well made 49 on debut v India, started to mix stout defence with a mixture of classical back foot shots. Pakistans pace and seam bowling quartet of Sami, Naveed, Akthar and Razzaq all bowled relatively economically but were guilty of bowling too short and not making the batsmen play enough. The lack of natural swing with the new ball after 3 or 4 overs was also a major concern. Kenya though battled away and had slowly crawled to 62/1 off 20 overs when rain brought a halt to proceedings.

After the rain delay Pakistan decided to change the angle of attack. Spinners Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik were introduced in tandem. Afridi, who is fast becoming a big partnership breaker took a wicket in his first over when he had Maurice Ouma caught behind off the under edge for 23. Kenya were now 67/2. What happened next was highly unexpected after a drab 1st hours play. Shoaib Malik joined the party by trapping Kennedy Otieno plumb lbw for a well grafted 33. The loss of two well set batsmen hit Kenya hard. Star batsmen Steve Tikolo was soon to follow for a duck, clean bowled by a sharp turning delivery by Shoaib Malik. Kenya had now slipped from 67/1 to 67/4 in the space off 9 deliveries.

Pakistan smelt blood and went in for the kill. Shahid Afridi ran through the Kenyan lower order like a hot knife through butter. With a mixture of off breaks and blistering 80 mph yorkers, Afridi was bowling faster leg breaks then some seam bowlers bowl on average.
Afridi eventually finished with career best figures of 6 overs 5/11 and he was ably assisted by Shoaib Malik who ended up with figures of 6 overs 3/15. In between the spin twin demolition there was a smart run out from Yasir Hameed fielding at short cover, which accounted for Martin Suji.

In the space of 12 overs Pakistan had bowled Kenya out for 94 after being handily set on 62/1 at the 20 over mark. Pakistans spin twins had bowled a combined spell of 12 overs 6/26. One can only wonder what was said in the dressing room after Pakistan players had left the field due to rain in the 20th over.

Pakistan then came out to bat needing 95 runs to win in 24.5 overs to overtake India on net-run rate. Openers Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat, who were both dropped in the slips once by Steve Tikolo made short work of the target initially putting on 70 for the 1st wicket. The 1st wicket to fall was Yasir Hameed for 41 when he slashed at a wide ball off Martin Suji and was caught behind. The return to form of Yasir Hameed in the last two matches will be a welcome boost for the Pakistan side.

Pakistan lost a further two wickets in the form of Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi as Pakistan looked to finish the game quickly. Young Kenyan seamer Rageb Aga finishing with 2/17 off 4 overs. Imran Farhat though stood firm and ended up on 38 not out and Razzaq 7 not out as Pakistan won with plenty of time to spare. Pakistan also managed to leapfrog India on net-run rate and now lead the group. But the reality is Kenya were there just to make up the numbers and the Pakistan versus India clash was always going to decide which side will advance to the ICC trophy semi finals.

Man of the Match – Shahid Afridi (another top performance with the ball)