Kenyans find the going tough

By Our Special Correspondent

BLOEMFONTEIN, OCT. 11. The Summer Spice series has so far been a engaging battle between the South Africans and Indians. They have played two matches and there is no denying the fact that the crowd which turned in large numbers at `The Wanderers' last Friday and at the Centurion on Wednesday got their money's worth.

The Kenyans are nowhere in the picture. Maurice Odumbe hit the nail on its head when he said immediately after his team's defeat against the South Africans in Benoni that it's going to be a struggle to score a run and capture a wicket for his team in this tri-series. But he felt that his team has the capacity to make 200 and more against the Indians. The Kenyans have a busy schedule in the weekend and the outcome of these matches will throw sufficient light on whether they can match the skills of the Indians and the South Africans.

In the first match against the more powerful African nation, their batsmen were choked by the brilliant `corridor' bowling by Pollock, Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini. Even the experienced batsmen in Ravindu Shah and David Otieno were shackled to their crease. Half way through the match, it became evident that South Africa would romp home in style.

There was no respite for the Kenyans after their rout by the national side. Even the South Africa `A' team trounced them by a big margin, left hander Jacques Rudolph, who had scored a century against the Indians at Ranjesfontein, making an undefeated 134 against them. Seamers Justin Kemp and Charl Langeveldt took five wickets each to bowl out the Kenyans for 126 in a warm up match Laudium. Steve Tikolo was the lone batsman who showed his class, making 59 runs.

The Kenyans play their second match of the tri-series here at the Goodyear Park, the home ground of the Free State province and also where the likes of former South African captain Hansie Cronje and fast bowler Allan Donald were reared. The Kenyans have had their bit of success against India, but that was when some of the top players were rested by India's selectors. Their coach Sandip Patil believes that his side will strive hard to put up a better show against the Indians.

Ganguly's team appeared quite relaxed, flying into Bloemfontein on Thursday afternoon. Within a couple of hours after arriving into the city, the Indians rushed to the Goodyear Park for training and practice. However, Ganguly, Srinath and Harbhajan did not join the team at practice.

Indians appear to be keen on retaining the same squad, but it is possible that Shiv Sundar Das, who received blows from head to ankle at the Centurion, standing at short leg, may make way for Jacob Martin or Reetinder Singh Sodhi.

The Indian skipper attributed Wednesday's win to the changes that have taken place in Indian cricket. He made public the work put in by the coach John Wright and physio Andrew Leipus. ``It's been happening since six or seven months. I think our bowlers did a good job. Even Sehwag did his role. But we should have got more runs,'' said Ganguly at the Press Conference on Wednesday night.

There has been quite a few happy events for the Indian team over the last week. The openers, Ganguly and Tendulkar have been among the runs. Rahul Dravid made his presence felt scoring a half century and thereafter Yuveraj Singh and Sehwag, for whom a consistent showing with the bat might improve their chances of being retained for the Test series. They were sent back home after the Coca Cola series in Sri Lanka. Another important contributor with the bat, lower in the order, was Harbhajan Singh. They will get two matches against the Kenyans; one here on Friday and the second on at Port Elizabeth, next Wednesday, by which time, the team that is not likely to make the final will be known. As of now, it looks as though, that team will be Kenya.

The teams: India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Shiv Sundar Das, Yuveraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Deep Dasgupta, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Jacob Martin, Venkatesh Prasad, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Harvinder Singh.

Kenya (from): Maurice Odumbe (captain), Ravindu Shah, Kennedy Otieno, David Otieno, Steve Tikolo, Thomas Odoyo, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, Peter Ogonda, Brijal Patel, Collins Otieno, Joseph Angara, Hitesh Modi, Sandeep Gupta, Jimmy Kamanade.

Umpires: Dave Orchard & Shaid Wadvalla; Third umpire: Wilf Diedricks; Match Referee: Ahmed Ebrahim.

Hours of play (IST): 6 p.m to 9. 30 p.m; 10.15 p.m onwards.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : India puts it across South Africa
Next     : Another feat by Tendulkar-Ganguly