ICC World Cup qualifiers: Kenya complete an epic chase to hand shock defeat to Netherlands

Kenya opener Irfan Karim

Kenya chased down a score of 265 with 86-balls remaining to hand a shock defeat to associate nations giant Netherlands in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, New Zealand on Thursday.

Sent in by Kenya to bat first, Netherlands made 265-6 in their allotted 50 overs riding on wicket-keeper Wesley Barresi’s 137 not out. Opener Eric Szwarczynski also contributed with a knock of 57.

Set a target of 266 runs to win by Netherlands, Kenya needed to chase it down in 36.1 overs or less to leapfrog the Dutch on net run-rate and book a place in the Super Sixes.

Irfan Karim made sure that Kenya got off to a blazing start by smashing 108 runs off just 84 balls in an innings that included 16 boundaries. Karim received excellent support from Ragheb Aga who made 86 off 70 balls as the pair added 148 runs for the second wicket in just 20.2 overs.

Although there were a few nerves towards the end as Kenyan wickets began to tumble, captain Rakep Patel and veteran batsman Steve Tikolo held their nerve to bring Kenay home in 35.4 overs with 4 wickets to spare.

The win sees Kenya qualify for the Super Sixes stage of the tournament while Netherlands are knocked out and will not feature in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup which will take place in Australia and New Zealand.

Brief Scores :

Netherlands 265/6 in 50 overs (Wesley Barresi 137*, Eric Szwarczynski 57, Lameck Onyango 2/50)

Kenya 266/6 in 35.4 overs (Irfan Karim 108, Ragheb Aga 86, Ahsan Malik 3/54)