Kenya defeat Ghana

Kenya defeated Ghana by 5 wickets in a match of the ICC Africa Region Division One Twenty20, today, July 9, 2011, at Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala.

Earlier, Ghana’s Captain, Peter Ananya, won the bat and elected to bat first to set a competitive total on the board for the opposition.

The Ghanaian opening pair started the inning with confidence, particularly Francis Bakiweyem, who provided the start his team was looking for and faced Kenya’s bowling line up with courage to score 34 runs.

On the other hand, James Vifah was aggressive, smashing three boundaries before giving up his wicket to Harrison Angila on 16.

After Vifah’s departure, the 17-year-old, Julius mensah joined Bakiweyem, and tried to build up a partnership; however, he failed to contribute for Ghana, and lost his wicket on 12 as he was run-out.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Ateak came at the wicket and played brilliantly to put up a partnership of 35 runs with the opening batsman.

However, Bakiweyem did not sustain the momentum to support his partner, and threw away his wicket on 34.

After the loss of 3 wickets, Ghana’s batsmen, including Ateak, failed to show resistance in front of the Kenyan bowling line up.

Ateak gave away his wicket on 36 while the rest of batsmen failed to move the score board as Ghana set the target of 141 runs for Kenya.

Ghana’s bowlers were average with their performance. Duncan Allan and Anglia took 1 wicket each while Joseph Ochieng picked 2.

In reply, the Kenyan opener Allan was right on the money with the bat. He made 37 runs on 31 balls with the help of 6 fours.

The remaining batsmen however, were not upto the mark and wickets kept tumbling without much contribution in terms of score.

However, the middle order batsman, Jignesh Hirani, played sensibly according to the situation, and made 23 runs on 24 balls, which eventually helped his team to seal the victory by 5 wickets.

Irfan Karim supported Hirani by scoring 18 runs on 13 balls, whereas Ochieng made 14 runs and Angila scored 11.