An unbeaten century by Vice Captain Thomas Odoyo took Kenya to a 130 run first innings lead in day two of their Intercontinental Cup match with Canada after Alex Obanda and David Obuya had set the platform for a big total.

Resuming on 8/1 after Maurice Ouma had been dismissed by Umar Bhatti of the first ball of the innings on day one, Kenya had further mishap when Bhatti struck again with the first ball of the morning to remove night watchman Hiren Varaiya. Though he hid not contribute further to the score, he had already done his job the evening before and he could make way for the established batsmen to set about chasing Canada’s total.

Alex Obanda duly obliged with an aggressive 83 off just 70 balls. He looked especially impressive with his cover drives seemingly able to find the gaps at will. Obuya at the other end was playing a more circumspect innings, but opened the shackles himself once Obanda fell to the Canadian Captain within sight of his century. The pair had added 122 for the third wicket and it set a perfect platform for the rest of the innings.

Steve Tikolo joined Obuya at the crease and the pair added a further 60 before the opener fell to Qaiser Ali for a very useful and well made 72. Collins Obuya replaced his brother and though both he and Tikolo both fell in the 30s, they did enough to keep the momentum and carry Kenya to within sight of a first innings lead.

Thomas Odoyo joined Obuya with the dismissal of Tikolo, lbw to Ali, and played cautiously until first Kenya passed Canada’s total and then he himself reached his 50. He marshalled the tail well and received good support from each of Kamande, Odhiambo and lastly Peter Ongondo who hung on just long enough to see his captain reach his maiden First Class century before Bhatti took the last 2 wickets to finish with 5/75 for the innings.

It was a class effort from Odoyo and underlines his importance to this team. With Collins Obuya gone with Kenya still short of Canada’s target, things could have got tricky for the hosts, but Odoyo dug in and showed patience waiting for the bad balls which he dealt with severely. His century on the backs of the efforts of Obanda and David Obuya have lifted Kenya to a total of 393, a lead of 130 and they will go into day three confident of being able to tighten the screws on Canada.

A dominating and sensible effort from Kenya with the bat and one that sets them up for the victory so long as the bowlers can do their job today and bowl Canada out.