Five wicket haul by Afridi:

Emphatic win for Pakistan

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Pakistan got their World Cup campaign underway with an emphatic 205 run victory over Kenya in their group ‘A’ fixture worked off under lights at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambanthota yesterday.

After rattling up a huge 317 for 7 having elected to bat first Pakistan then came out with all their guns blazing to skittle out their opponents for a mere 112 runs from 33. 1 overs.

Skipper Shahid Afridi led the way with a superb five wicket haul with paceman Umar Gul and Mohammad Hafeez providing the back up support. As a result the Kenyan batting was in complete disarray losing their last six wickets for just 33 runs.

Pakistan’s victory was fashioned by some splendid batting from the top order where they produced as many as four half centurions which also equaled the record for the most number of fifties in a World Cup match.

The most impressive among them were Misbah ul Haq and young Umar Akmal with both completing half centuries on their World Cup debut for Pakistan. The pair simply tore the Kenyan bowling attack into pieces with a century stand for the fifth wicket from just 72 deliveries.

Misbah ul Haq of course departed in the 47th over for a 69 ball 65 inclusive of two sixes and one boundary but Pakistan ensured that they collected as many as 71 runs from their batting power play.

Young Umar Akmal went on to hit a top score of 71 from just 52 deliveries studded with one six and eight boundaries. They were also helped through some pretty ordinary bowling from Kenya who conceded as many as 46 extras which included a record equaling 37 wides in a one day international match.

Pakistan of course had a disappointing start to their World Cup campaign where they lost both openers for 12 runs within the space of seven overs. However two of the most experienced players in their camp Kamran Akmal and Younus Khan repaired the early damage with a third wicket partnership of 98 runs from 18 overs.

Both players went on to complete superb half centuries but unfortunately they could not convert their innings into a big score. Wicket keeper batsman Kamran Akmal simply lost his concentration when he was well set having reached 55 from 67 deliveries inclusive of five boundaries. Former captain Younus Khan was also heading towards a big score when he played an irresponsible stroke after having made a solid half century from 67 deliveries with the aid of two boundaries.

SCORECARD
	PAKISTAN

Mohammad Hafeez c Waters b Otieno 	 09
Ahmed Shehzad c Kamande b Odoyo 	 01
Kamran Akmal st Ouma b Ngoche 		 55
Younis Khan lbw b Tikolo 		 50
Misbah-ul-Haq c Otieno b Kamande 	 65
Umar Akmal c Obuya b Odoyo 		 71
Shahid Afridi lbw b Odoyo 		 07
Abdul Razzaq not out 			 08
Abdur Rehman not out 			 05
Extras (lb 3, w 31, nb 6) 		 45
Total (7 wickets) 			317
To bat: Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar 
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-12, 3-110, 4-155, 5-273, 6-289, 7-289.
Bowling: T M Odoyo-7-2-41-3, E Otieno 9-1-49-1, N N Odhiambo 6.1-0-50, S 
		O Ngoche 10-0-46-1,
	 J K Kamande 7-0-64-1, S O Tikolo 9-0-44-1, C O Obuya 
		1-0-5-0.

		KENYA

M. Ouma c Kamran b Gul 			 16
S. Waters run out 			 17
C. Obuya c Shahzad b Afridi 		 47
S. Tikolo b Afridi 			 13
T. Mishra lbw b Afridi 			 06
R. Patel c Umar b Hafeez 		 00
J. Kamande lbw b Afridi 		 02
T. Odoyo lbw b Afridi 			 00
N. Odhiambo run out 			 00
S. Ngoche b Gul 			 00
E. Otieno not out 			 00
Extras (b4, lb3, nb1, w3) 		 11
Total (all out; 33.1 overs) 		112
Fall of wickets: 1-37 (Waters), 2-43 (Ouma), 3-73 (Tikolo), 4-79 
		(Mishra),
		 5-85 (Patel), 6-87 (Kamande), 7-101 (Odoyo), 8-112 (Obuya), 
		9-112 (Odhiambo), 10-112 (Ngoche). 
Bowling: Akhtar 5-0-10-0 (w1), Razzaq 5-1-23-0, Gul 4.1-0-12-2 (nb1, 
		w1), Rehman 7-1-18-0, Afridi 8-3-16-5, Hafeez 4-1-26-1 (w1).