Barry Silah @obel_barry
Kenya’s women cricket team lost its first match in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier in Harare yesterday going down by 39 runs.
The Group B that was played at Takashinge Oval saw the East Africans win the toss but selected to field with medium right arm bowler Mercyline Ochieng taking three wickets.
The opening innings saw player of the match Sune Whitmann (25 off 19 balls) lead the charge with her contribution including two boundaries and a six before being bowled out by Esther Wachira’s lovely delivery which was caught by Sylvia Kinyua.
Opening batsman Adri van der Merwe (25 off 32 balls) was also up to task as she was instrumental in driving up the numbers on the board.
Namibia did just enough to put in a score total of 117/6 at close of innings with team Kenya being tight in bowling to restrict the numbers from widening.
The southern African captain Reehana Khan was surprisingly ejected for a dot off six balls after a spectacular trap leg before wicket by the lively Ochieng. Veteran all-rounder Irene van Zyl (20 off 32balls) not out came in at number five to add fresh stability but her contribution proved less effective.
With a target of 118, Kenya started out miserably with six of the batting order eliminated inside 10 overs.
Kenya’s scores were too low to make much of an impact with the highest run getter being Daisy Njoroge (18 off 19 balls) followed by Mercyline Ochieng (12 off 29 balls) who incidentally came in the latter stages of the match but also fell prey to destructive play by the Namibians led by Whitmann and Van Zyl .
