Kenya continued their quest for a place at next year’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup with a four-wicket win over Sierra Leone in their second match of the Division One Africa qualifiers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Tuesday afternoon.
The West Africans won the toss and elected to bat and were soon struggling to cope with the magnificent bowling of the Kenyans.
Their best batter was skipper John Bangura who accumulated 51 runs before he was dismissed by Neel Doshi after 106 balls.
The Sierra Leoneans were soon all out for 139 runs, offering their East African rivals a great opportunity to notch their first win of the tournament.
With the home boys needing 140 runs to win, up stepped Stian Smith whose 37 runs (not out) helped propel Kenya to the precipice of victory.
The Kenyan batting order was off to a flier, the opening pair of Darsh Panchani and Brian Likavu combining for 54 runs off 92 balls.
Likavu, who was Kenya’s best batter with 40 runs, was soon dismissed for the showers after a lbw (leg-before-wicket) by George Sesay.
They were not to be disheartened though as Smith soon came into the fray.
Despite the bowling out of Raj Pankhaniya (13 runs), Hitendra Sanghani (five runs), Yash Gohil (three runs), and Vaibhav Naresh, Smith held on, contributing to the scorecard with two 4s.
Kenya next play Namibia on Wednesday afternoon, hoping to collect their second win of the qualifiers after their first match against the hosts on Sunday was rained off.
Next year’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup is slated for Sri Lanka.
