England sail through to Super Eights at Kenya’s expense
Kenya’s hopes of rekindling the magic of Cricket World Cup 2003, when they had managed to reach the semifinal stage of the tourney, fell flat as they were sent packing back home by a resilient England team. Playing at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia, England displayed extraordinary cricketing skills to defeat Kenya by seven wickets in a largely one-sided affair.
Opener Ed Joyce, along with the devastating Kevin Pietersen, took England to the victory target by contributing 103 runs for the fourth wicket. Even though the Englishmen were given a paltry 177 to chase, they did have a few initial hiccups when skipper Michael Vaughan (1) and Ian Bell (16) went for inconsequential scores.
However, Joyce (75) and Pietersen (56 not out) made light weight of Kenyan bowlers, hitting them at will. Both of them showed mesmerizing strokeplay and hit a good number of boundaries. After losing three wickets, England eventually reached the required score of 178 in 33 overs. For Kenya, Thomas Odoyo (1-27 in six overs) and Steve Tikolo (1-18 in four overs) were the only effective bowlers.
Earlier in the day, Kenya chose to bat first and were bundled out for a meager 177 runs in the 43rd over. The only worthwhile contribution came from skipper Tikolo, who scored 76 runs off 97 balls. For England, James Anderson (2-27), Andrew Flintoff (2-35) and Paul Collingwood (2-33) ravaged the Kenyan batting lineup and ensured that they did not get a chance to settle down.
England now move on to the Super Eight stage of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 with four points in tow. They are at the second position in Group C, which is headed by New Zealand.
Brief Scores: England 178/3 (Joyce 75, Pietersen 56*) vs. Kenya 177 (Tikolo 76, Anderson 2-27)
Result: England won by seven wickets
Man of the Match: Ed Joyce
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