By Suneer Chowdhary
In what will be an inconsequential game between Zimbabwe and Kenya, there will be a proverbial wooden spoon for grabs. The game will be the penultimate of the league stage and will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Published: Mar 19, 2011, 07:03 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 19, 2011, 07:03 PM (IST)
Zimbabwe would look to finish ahead of Kenya by winning this match
By Suneer Chowdhary
Kolkata: Mar 20, 2011
In what will be an inconsequential game between Zimbabwe and Kenya, there will be a proverbial wooden spoon for grabs. The game will be the penultimate of the league stage and will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The two African sides, despite having bowed out of the tournament before this game, have been chalk and cheese in their performances in the tournament so far. Zimbabwe have had their patches when they had things going their way with either the bat or the ball – more from the latter – but were outclassed by the bigger, better sides at the post.
On the other hand, Kenya have been plain listless. A far cry from what they were in 2003, worse than 2007 as they go into this last game with five losses in a row. And the performances reflect in the margins of defeat, a ten wicket thrashing by New Zealand, 210-run loss to Pakistan, a nine-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka and finally, a face-saving effort, but a loss by 60 runs to Australia.
Amidst all this, what would have hurt them the most would have been the defeat at the hands of fellow Associate side Canada, who had a reasonably easy, five-wicket win.
The good news for Kenya, going into this game, will definitely be the manner in which the batting acquitted itself in the Australia game. Collins Obuya, who has been Kenya’s lone saviour in the tournament went on to win the man of the match award – the only such instance of a player doing that in a losing cause this World Cup – for his 98. What would have warmed the hearts further is the batting of Tanmay Mishra, who made 72.
It will now be a matter of repeating this against the higher-ranked Zimbabwean side.
Zimbabwe have had their ups and downs in the tournament but where Zimbabwe have failed is to stamp their authority at crucial junctures. The bowling has been manned by the duo of Ray Price and Prosper Utseya, while the batting has looked limp each time Brendan Taylor or Craig Ervine has failed.
Against the weaker attack of Kenya, this could be a good chance for those without too much batting form to get going.
Interestingly, the two sides played each other for the first time in 1996 and since then have met 31 times. Kenya have won only five times, with their first win coming in the 2003 World Cup. Interestingly, Kenya have won only two games in the three World Cup tournaments apart from 2003, where they had won four. Another loss here and that would be 2 wins in four tournaments other than their 2003 sojourn.
Teams:
Zimbabwe (Probable): Brendan Taylor, Regis Chakabva, Tatenda Taibu (wk), Craig Ervine, Elton Chigumbura (c), Greg Lamb, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Ray Price, Tinashe Panyangara, Chris Mpofu.
Kenya (Probable): Maurice Ouma (wk), Seren Waters, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tanmay Mishra, David Obuya, Jimmy Kamande (c), Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, James Ngoche.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Daryl Harper (Australia)
Time: 9.30 pm local (04.00 GMT)
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)
Pictures © Getty Images
