Kenyans no match for Proteas' perfection

By G. Viswanath

BENONI, OCT. 7. The Proteas won another one-day match of the `Summer Spice' series, a novel USP the advertisers have termed for South Africa's home international season.

There was never an iota of doubt about the outcome of the second match of the Standard Bank tri-series between South Africa and Kenya, especially, after the weaker of the African teams failed to get off the ground on what was a perfect batting pitch.

Though openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs were back in the change rooms with the home team's score at 52, the third-wicket pair in Jacques Kallis (54) and Neil McKenzie (49 not out) took their team nearer to the winning total of 160 runs. The Kenyans did not have the quality batsmen to match the skills and power of the top order Indians who made the tournament opener at the `The Wanderers' on Friday a high-scoring one.

Bonus point

The South Africans were unsparing while bowling and fielding (catches held by Kallis and Gibbs) in the first session and batting in the second. They won by seven wickets and with 98 balls remaining which won them a bonus point. South Africa has nine points from two matches. Skipper Shaun Pollock was adjudged the `Man of the Match'.

It was again a story of Steve Tikolo making a solo attempt for Kenya in another international match between two African nations. Since the time he made his debut five years ago after Kenya was accorded the special status of a one-day international side in order to encourage its cricketers and provide impetus to the development of the game, he has risen in stature as a batsman and become to symbolise Kenyan cricket.

If any one was looking for proof of his calibre and class, Tikolo illustrated that in abundance at the Willowmoore Park, but the flip side to the second match of the tri-series that appeared as a sorry spectacle, was Kenya's inability to rise above the individual brilliance of Tikolo.

As a team it failed, the collective effort of its batsmen producing 159 runs, which was somewhere in between its highest and lowest against South Africa. It avoided humiliation by batting for the length of the first session, which beat the clock by ten minutes for an extended lunch interval. The result of Sunday's match also gave ample indications of what might happen in the next two league matches between them.

Kenya's captain Maurice Odumbe, who has played as much as Tikolo - 37 one-day internationals - but is not held in the same esteem as the stylish batsman, took a bold decision, deciding to bat after winning the toss. He cannot be faulted for doing so because his batsmen had scored over 600 runs in two warm up matches and he had the right to believe that, even at worse his batsmen would not flounder and collapse like a pack of cards.

But after the first legal ball of the match produced a wicket for South Africa when opener Kennedy Otieno pushed forward and nicked to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, there were signs of an impending struggle for the Kenyans.

Wall-like arc

It was a rare occasion when the ball travelled beyond the centre square or plot. There was the inevitability of the front foot drives or back foot forcing shots whenever David Otieno or Shah managed against Pollock and Nel, finding an wall-like arc in Jonty Rhodes (point), Gibbs (cover) and Makhaya Ntini (mid off).

The South Africans did not regard Kenya as a lightweight. It was evident in the way they approached the game. Pollock and Nel did not strive for extra pace, but the latter did cause some excitement in the spectators by exploiting the new bouncer rule which allows to bowl one such ball in an over.

By the time the opening bowlers finished their first spells and Kallis and Ntini also did their bit, it became very clear that the match was all over for the Kenyans. Pollock went through his first six overs for a miserly five and picked up a wicket, Nel gave sixteen in his first six and Ntini, eleven in his first six. Kallis turned out to be the odd man among the four seamers, proving relatively expensive.

David Otieno and Shah could only defend. It was impossible to believe that the Kenyan pair in the middle coached by Sandeep Patil - who believed in total aggression - could not think of any other method in dealing with Pollock and Nel. They eschewed all risks. This allowed the South Africans to be right top of their rivals. Shah pottered around for one hour and four minutes before falling a `hit wicket' victim, in the process of playing a backfoot punch off Ntini, who had just been rung in to bowl his first over, replacing Nel. Thereafter David Otieno drove Kallis, straight into the hands of Nel at the conventional mid- off.

Kenya moved at a pace that fetched it 20 off the first ten overs, 27 off 15, 36 off 20, 62 off 25 and 82 off 30. Tikolo, who had come at No. 4, saw his team coming apart, but he did not throw his wicket away. He had an ally in his captain, Odumbe, for three quarters of an hour. Tikolo began his batting display with a classic cut shot of Kallis that raced to the fence. The bowler's immediate response was two short deliveries which Tikolo saw pass in front of his nose.

Tikolo launched into some fine shots whenever the bowlers erred. There was this fine extracover drive and a flick to mid-wicket, both off Kallis. Tikolo appeared supremely confident against the South African pace battery; he also reverse hit left-arm spinner, Claude Henderson (he replaced Justin Kemp) to the third man fence.

Tikolo and Odumbe added 55 for the fourth wicket. When Tikolo reached his half-century, he received commendations from the South Africans on the field and from the holiday crowd. When Pollock brought himself back for his second spell, Tikolo hit him straight down the ground for his sixth four. The last ten overs produced just 35 runs, but in the circumstances, Kenya progressing at 3.5 an over was sort of a bonus, what with the its innings averaging a strike rate of a fraction over one until the middle overs. It ought not to be surprising that the Kenyan batsmen put up a poor show, Tikolo providing the bright sparks in the time he was in the middle. All Kenya could post on the board was a paltry 159 in its eighth international in two years and two months.

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