USA keep pace at the top with victory against Kenya

Muscat: USA and Singapore both wrapped up eye-catching victories on a thrilling third day of action at the ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

USA are now top of the table following the 158-run victory against Kenya, maintaining their 100 per cent winning start to the tournament in swash-buckling style. Kenya are without a win from two games along with Denmark, who were beaten by a superb Singapore team by 94 runs in Oman.

Singapore have moved into third in the table level on points with Uganda, who are back in action on Tuesday against Kenya while hosts Oman play Denmark.

USA v KENYA

Following Saturday’s opening victory against Uganda, USA arrived full of confidence and, despite losing the toss, they went in to bat with their tail up. Monank Patel (26) and Jaskaran Malhotra (28) shared 46 for the first wicket — both scoring at quicker than a run a ball to kick USA off to a strong start, before Patel was caught off the bowling of Nehemiah Odhiambo. Just three overs later, Malhotra went lbw to Nelson Odhiambo but Kenya could not get on top of USA’s impressive top-order as Steven Taylor (41) and Aaron Jones (69) both scored well.

Taylor hit two fours and two sixes in his 35-ball innings while Jones, in contrast, hit three sixes but played a more measured innings totalling 118 deliveries. Hayden Walsh (48) also scored well as USA finished 254 all out, with Nelson Odhiambo (4-50) the pick of the Kenyan bowlers.

Kenya’s reply got off to a slow start with three wickets falling in the first four overs and from there it struggled to get back into the contest.

Opening bowler Ali Khan (3-36) caused plenty of problems and dismissed three of Kenya’s top four, including Irfan Karim for a duck.

Rakep Patel (19) battled hard to keep Kenya in the match but Elmore Hutchinson took three middle-order wickets to help restrict the African side to 61-8, before Timil Patel took the final wicket to bowl Kenya out for 96.

Singapore defeat Denmark

Singapore narrowly lost to Oman in their tournament opener and the keenness to put things right was evident right from the start against Denmark.

Denmark won the toss and elected to field but Singapore batted superbly early on, with openers Aritra Dutta (87) and Arjun Mutreja (57) making the most of the early conditions.

They shared 140 for the first stand before Anique Uddin (2-36) accounted for them both. That got Denmark back into the match as Singapore fell from 162-1 to 190-5, thanks to a pair of run-outs. Rezza Gaznavi dug deep for his 40 but only one other batsman reached double figures outside the top three.

Singapore finished with 254 and with the ball it made a strong start thanks to Amjad Mahboob (3-28) dismissing Denmark opener Zameer Khan (2).

Fellow opener and captain Hamid Shah played nicely for 85 but wickets regularly fell at the other end – with leg-spinner Anantha Krishna (4-37) the pick of Singapore’s bowlers.

Shah was the ninth man out and just an over later Krishna dismissed Bashir Khan (5), with Denmark all out for 160.

Brief scores:

USA 254 all out in 50 overs (Aaron Jones 69, Hayden Walsh 48; Nelson Odhiambo 4-50) bt Kenya 96 all out in 26 overs (Raked Patel 19, Nehemiah Odhiambo 15; Elmore Hutchinson 3-17) Singapore 254 all out in 49.3 overs (Aritra Dutta 87, Arjun Mutreja 57; Saif Ahmad 3-46) bt Denmark 160 all out in 35.4 overs (Hamid Shah 85, Saif Ahmad 23; Anantha Krishna 4-37)