Namibia beat Kenya in run fest

Namibia beat Kenya by five wickets in their first One Day international match at the United Field on Thursday.
In a run fest on a flat wicket, Kenya amassed 308 for seven wickets off their 50 overs, but Namibia gave a great chase and reached the winning target with 10 balls remaining.
Namibia won the toss and elected to field but their bowlers failed to make any early inroads, while their poor fielding didn’t help as Dhiren Gondaria was dropped twice, by Sarel Burger and wicketkeeper JP Kotze.
Spinner Bernard Scholtz finally got the breakthrough, dismissing Gondaria with his first ball, caught by Raymond van Schoor for 39 with the total on 98.
Scholtz continued to peg the batsmen back, trapping Alex Obanda LBW for 52 and bowling Morris Ouma for 10, and when Christi Viljoen bowled Gurdeep Singh for 35, Kenya were four down with the total on 159 runs.
Rakep Patel and Nelson Odhiambo however revived Kenya’s innings with a century stand for the fifth wicket.
Patel led the way with a swashbuckling innings as he reached his century off only 52 balls. In the process he hit four consecutive sixes off JJ Smit before he was eventually caught by Gerrie Snyman off Christi Viljoen’s bowling for 117 off 58 balls, which included 12 fours and six sixes.
Scoring at more than 11 runs to the over, Patel and Odhiambo put on 139 runs for the fifth wicket to take the total to 298.
Odhiambo was run out for 30 in the final over as Kenya reached 308 for seven wickets off their 50 overs.
Bernard Scholtz was Namibia’s best bowler, taking three wickets for 57 runs, while Christi Viljoen took two for 67 runs.
In Namibia’s run chase, Gerrie Snyman was the first to go, caught behind for 11 with the total on 56, while Stephan Baard was dismissed by Nelson Odhiambo for 43 off 36 balls which included five fours and two sixes.
Gerhard Erasmus was bowled by Odhiambo for 6 and when Sarel Burger was dismissed off Shem Ngoche’s bowling for 26, Namibia were struggling at 115 for four wickets.
Nicolaas Scholtz and Raymond van Schoor however led Namibia’s fightback, putting on 71 runs before Scholtz was dismissed by James Ngoche for 40 off 44 balls with the total on 186.
With 15 overs remaining, Namibia were still 123 runs in arrears, but Christi Viljoen joined Van Schoor and steered Namibia to a great victory.
Viljoen eventually scored 69 not out off only 45 balls, which included seven fours and two sixes, while Van Schoor scored 89 not out off 93 balls (seven fours and one six) as Namibia reached 311 for five wickets off 48,2 overs.
Nelson Odhiambo was Kenya’s best bowler, taking two wickets for 29 runs off seven overs.
Kenya play Namibia A in their second encounter at Affies Park on Friday, while their final match is against Namibia at the Wanderers on Saturday. Both matches start at 09h30.

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