Kenya set all the wrong records as they tumbled to a nine wicket defeat to New Zealand in their first match of the Twenty-20 World Cup. Right from the word go it was a disaster for the Kenyans as they lost their first three wickets without scoring after being sent in. No team has previously even lost two wickets without runs on the board in an international Twenty-20.

Shane Bond's pace unsurprisingly started the slide as he had Maurice Ouma playing on off the second ball of the match and then Tanmay Mishra caught at point of the fifth. If Kenya thought they were going to get some respite at the other end, they were sadly mistaken. Mark Gillespie struck with the first ball of the second over as David Obuya was forced back onto his stumps. Only 1 run and four balls later, further disaster struck when the captain, Steve Tikolo, was trapped plumb in front. Kenya were 1-4 and many were no doubt wondering if they would even reach double figures.

A mini recovery followed as Collins Obuya and Thomas Odoyo moved the score along to 37 before Chris Martin induced an uppish shot from Odoyo that was snapped up by Taylor at mid off. Nehemiah Odhiambo faced six balls, before he too fell caught Taylor, bowled Martin and Obuya followed shortly after, stumped by McCullum of what would otherwise have been an innocuous wide from Vettori. Youngster Alex Obanda was next to go cleaned up by the New Zealand skipper for 4 off 12 and Kenya were again facing humiliation at 46/8.

Again there was a recovery of sorts as Jimmy Kamande and Rajesh Bhudia fought back with a couple of big hits to take the score to 73. Kamande stepped aside once too often to Gillespie, whose full toss uprooted middle stump and two balls later it was all over as Ongondo perished in similar fashion. Kenya were all out for 73, the lowest score so far in an International Twenty-20 and the 6 ducks must also have been something of a record. New Zealand’s bowlers also left the field with some more positive records of their own. Shane Bond finished with 4-1-12-2, the best figures for a completed spell in this form of the game, but the best figures ever were recorded by Mark Gillespie, whose 4/7 is the new record for Twenty-20 internationals.

Things did not improve for Kenya in the field as New Zealand crashed their way to victory in only 7.4 overs. Odoyo bowled with vim and caused some initial problems, but with the umpires not interested in some lively appeals, the Kiwis cut loose. Odoyo did get some joy when David Obuya took a wonderful catch diving forward at mid-off to remove Lou Vincent, but that was to be Kenya’s only consolation.

Kenya now travel to Johannesburg where they have one day to set things right before they face Sri Lanka in what is looking increasingly like Roger Harper’s last match in charge of the team. They will be hoping to turn the clock back to the 2003 World Cup when they upset Sri Lanka in Nairobi, but it would be a brave man that would put any money on it after yesterday’s performance.