England survived interference from the weather and a bizarre interpretation of the playing conditions by the umpires to beat Kenya at the St Lawrence Ground yesterday, their second win of the tournament.
Chasing just 204 to win, their innings was suspended at 98 for the single loss of Alec Stewart (23) after 20 overs - insufficient by five to constitute a match - through persistent drizzle and poor light, and a joust with the climate today seemed on the cards.
However, once the rain stopped, the umpires, and no doubt England (if not their opponents who might have seen a glimmer of salvation in the mathematics of Messrs Duckworth and Lewis) were keen to see the game to a conclusion and they duly did so by nine wickets with 11 overs in hand.
The resumption, in gloom, saw Nasser Hussain - again playing instead of Nick Knight - and Graeme Hick take just 19 more overs to knock off the remaining 106 runs, their second-wicket partnership worth 159. Hick, belligerent from the start, made 61, his second unbeaten half-century of the campaign following 73 not out against Sri Lanka last Friday.
But it was Hussain, continuing his role at the top of the order, who virtually guaranteed himself a place in the side for the rest of the tournament by making 87 from 127 balls, an innings characterised by wholehearted and crisp driving that brought the bulk of the 11 boundaries that went with a six pulled over square leg.
England did the expected thorough job, bowling tolerably well and fielding sufficiently sharply for there to be two run-outs with direct hits. They have only lost three wickets now in two matches.
The Kenyans, though, did not get the rub of the green, losing the toss (two-in-a-row constitutes a winning streak for Alec Stewart), getting the worst of the batting conditions as a result and then for the bulk of the England innings being forced to bowl not with the white Duke ball, but a bar of Palmolive. Under the circumstances, their performance was plucky and did the profile of their cricket no disservice.
After a start delayed by 90 minutes because of overnight rain, their best spell of the game followed the early dismissal of Kennedy Otieno, with a second-wicket stand of 100 between Ravidu Shah and Steve Tikolo, a batsman who stands comparison with most in this tournament. Shah was well caught at the wicket by Stewart for 46 giving Darren Gough the first of his four wickets, the second of which brought him his 100th wicket in his 62nd limited-overs international, a milestone reached for England only by Ian Botham and Phil DeFreitas.
But Tikolo, batting with considerable panache, went on to hit eight boundaries in his 71 before he was sixth out, skying Ealham to mid-on. He and the Kenyan innings suffered though both from his inability, once Shah had gone, to gain sufficient strike, and that of his partners to feed him. His half-century took just 70 balls; his dismissal, 15 overs later, had seen him face only a further 37. The man-of-the-match award will be only slight consolation.
Thereafter there was a chance for Tom Odoyo to show some swash and buckle, with three fours and a six - Alan Mullally swept over square-leg from on one knee - in an unbeaten 34, but little else. Eight of the Kenyans failed to reach double figures as the England bowlers mopped up.
