With only two players with any sort of international experience, Kenya A looked very much the underdogs going into the warm up match with Canada at Ruaraka Sports Club yesterday, but the result was closer than many expected. Winning the toss, Kenya put the visitors in to bat and kept the pressure on throughout the innings with wickets at regular intervals. Ashif Mulla (36) was the only batsmen who got going for Canada, but even he was not able to push on to a big score. Kenya's bowling was led by youngsters Moses Otieno (3/44) and Dominic Wesonga (3/45) who both showed they have the potential to move up to the next level of cricket. Canada finished on 203 and Brijal Patel would have been proud of the effort his team put in on the field.

Kenya's reply got off to a solid start thanks to openers David Maina (32) and Alpesh Bhudia (19). Francis Otieno provided good support to take the score to 67 for the loss of the second wicket, but like the Canadians, Kenya A lost too many regular wickets. Ramesh Mepani showed why he is long overdue for a call up with a fighting 43, but in the end too many wickets fell around him and Kenya A fell agonisingly short on 193.

Despite the loss, this is a very solid result for Kenya A and highlights the benefit in selecting players that are in good form. Several of the A team players have now asked serious selection questions in terms of the national team and will be able to reinforce that when they take on Denmark from next week. The result has also put pressure on Canada who would have expected to have a much easier time against an A side than they did yesterday. Only a day away from their Intercontinental Cup clash with Kenya at Nairobi Gymkhana they will be asking why their batsmen were not able to stay in and build longer innings and why their bowlers were not able to dominate a relatively inexperienced batting line up. Kenya on the other hand will take heart that their second string side came so close to beating the Canadians and will go into tomorrows match itching to prove they can go even better.

Match result:
Canada 203 (A Mulla 36, M Otieno 3/44, D Wesonga 3/45) beat Kenya A 193 (R Mepani 43, D Maina 32, U Bhatti 3/42) by 10 runs at Ruaraka Sports Club, Nairobi.