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Windies beat Kenya for first victory

Brian Lara was admitted to hospital with suspected hepatitis shortly after hitting a century as the West Indies beat Kenya by 29 runs in their Champions Trophy Pool 3 clash on Tuesday.

Kenya captain Steve Tikolo produced a high-class innings of 93 but it was not enough to prevent his side from going down.

Lara's illness took the gloss off a win that still gives the West Indies hope of reaching the semi-finals, although it will take a Kenyan victory over South Africa for that to happen.

West Indies innings

Lara was dropped three times on his way to a brisk century as the West Indies reached 261 for six. He also survived an appeal for a catch behind the wicket that was referred to the third umpire. His century came off 120 balls and was his first in one-day internationals since January 2001.

Kenya also dropped opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul twice and were guilty of several other fumbles in the field.

Lara's innings, after skipper Carl Hooper had won the toss, was full of typically flowing drives. But he, along with the rest of the West Indies batsmen, struggled to time the ball on a slow pitch that offered some sharp turn, and the left-hander was grateful for the good fortune he received.

On 32, Lara attempted to late-cut leg-spinner Collins Obuya and wicketkeeper David Obuya appealed for the catch. Umpire Daryl Harper referred the matter to third official Asoka de Silva, but although replays seemed to indicate the ball had run off the face of the bat, the verdict went in the batsman's favour.

Lara also benefited from some slipshod Kenyan catching as he was dropped on 37, 45 and 61.

First, Obuya put down a caught and bowled chance, then David Obuya missed a difficult leg-side chance from captain Steve Tikolo's off-spin as the batsman attempted to sweep. Finally, he was missed at long-on by Tony Suji, the easiest chance of the three, again off the suffering Obuya.

Lara was the only batsman to reach fifty as the slower pace of the Kenyan bowlers and the pitch combined to make timing the ball difficult.

Chris Gayle (33) and Chanderpaul (43) took advantage of the hardness of the ball and more Kenyan catching errors to give the West Indies a flying start.

The openers added 60 inside 12 overs, with Gayle hitting successive sixes off Martin Suji. But when he fell, miscuing a pull from Odoyo to midwicket, the innings lost momentum.

Chanderpaul was dropped for a second time, by Ravindu Shah at midwicket off Suji's medium-pace when he had scored 36, but eventually fell to Maurice Odumbe's excellent off-spin.

Hooper (20) also struggled to lift the tempo of the innings, batting for 34 balls without hitting a boundary before lofting Tikolo into the outfield.

But a late surge from Wavell Hinds, who hammered 20 from just six balls, including two sixes, gave the innings late impetus with 93 runs coming from the final 10 overs.

Kenya innings

Kenya captain Steve Tikolo produced a high-class innings of 93. He cut, drove and later improvised cleverly in the most attractive innings of the day.

He reached his 50 from only 47 balls and thoroughly deserved to reach three figures only to be bowled by Mervyn Dillon as he went in search of team glory in the closing overs.

As the asking rate increased, successive Kenyan batsman fell in a vain pursuit of the target and the final four wickets tumbled for just 13 runs as they were bowled out for 232 in the final over.

Kenya were left to reflect upon some sloppy out-cricket. In addition to the three chances they put down from Lara, the Africans also dropped Chanderpaul twice and were guilty of several mis-fields.

The next match in pool three is Kenya's clash with South Africa on Friday, with the winner likely to progress to the semi-final, where they will play the winners of pool two, involving England, Zimbabwe and India.

Scoreboard