Steve Tikolo won the toss and elected to bat this morning in the first official One Day International to be held in Mombasa. It was not a great start for the hosts on the field however as Maurice Ouma’s trouble at the top of the order continued. He was adjudged lbw to Saleem Mukaddem for 0 and when Tony Suji (2) followed not long after with the score still on 35, things looked a tad rough for Kenya. One positive from the top of the innings however was the patience of David Obuya, who comes into the side to replace his brother Kennedy. He made the highest score of the innings for Kenya and can feel unlucky not to have a half century to his name falling just 6 short. Obuya’s third wicket partnership with captain Steve Tikolo steadied the ship and for a while it looked as though they had the potential to take the game away from the visitors. Just when things were looking up for Kenya, David Hemp struck to remove Obuya and thus began the slide. Tanmay Mishra failed to back up his innings in the intercontinental Cup, falling for just 12 and then the Captain was run out by Janeiro Tucker on 41. Thomas Odoyo threatened briefly for his 20, but none of the middle order were able to hang around long enough to give Kenya the platform needed to set a big total. After Jimmy Kamande (6) and Collins Obuya (11) vacated the crease, even 200 looked a long way away for Kenya. Enter Nehemiah Odhiambo and Peter Ongondo, both players in the side for their bowling. Where the middle order batsmen had been slow to score and quick to give Bermuda the upper hand, the tailenders had other ideas. Odhiambo dominated the bowling to make a quick fire 34 and Ongondo backed him up with a fighting 24 to accelerate the run rate and not only take the score past 200 but well beyond. Kenya now need to knuckle down to defending the total and will need to put pressure on from the outset if they are going to win this match. They showed in the Intercontinental Cup that they have the firepower to bowl out Bermuda cheaply, and must make the most of this during the afternoon. 224 is a very defendable total on the MSC ground, but if a batsman gets set, it is also very achievable. Kenya’s bowlers will have to back up their performance in the first innings and the fielders will need to keep the fielding tight. It should be a fascinating afternoon’s cricket.