Kenya U19s ruined yet another precious opportunity to claim a scalp and give themselves a fighting chance in qualification for the U19 World Cup proper in Australia next year, when they went down to Scotland U19s by 15 runs in a one-day encounter at Eglinton, Northern Ireland.
It all but ends Kenya’s hopes in the event and their last match against African arch-rivals Namibia will just be a formality as they cannot possibly finish in the top six of the Global qualifiers.
Kenya began the day positively by dismissing a strong Scottish line-up for 188, thanks mainly to Harrison Angila’s spell of 3 for 32 off his 10 overs. Angila found support in Emmanuel Ringera’s 2 for 42 off 10 overs and the reliable Duncan Allan’s contribution of 2 for 35 from 7.4 overs, the lad responsible for dismissing Scotland’s last man in the 48th over.
Scotland was struggling at 77 for six at one stage. But the lower order of Scotland led by Anjan Luthra (32), Sam Page (48) alongwith Matthew Cross’ sedate 36 laid the foundation for a modest total of 188.
The reply began encouragingly when Rushabhvardhan Patel (50) shared an opening stand of 40 runs with Rahul Vishram (18) and later Allan joined Patel after the fall of Vishram to add another 83-run partnership that put Kenya in a commanding position.
The fall of Allan with the score at 123 and two beacme three when Patel fell soon after without the scorecard moving changed the game as Scotland applied pressure and wickets fell in a cluster yet again as Scotland snatched a 15-run win.
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