Canada coast to win in basement battle

Canada 199 for 5 (Hansra 70, Bagai 64*) beat Kenya 198 (Mishra 51, Odoyo 51, Osinde 4-26) by five wickets

	Jimmy Hansra slammed two sixes and seven fours in his 70© Getty Images

Canada won only their second World Cup match in four tournaments, beating Kenya in a low-profile, low-scoring scrap, and walked away from the Feroz Shah Kotlawith with bragging rights. Jimmy Hansra and Ashish Bagai put on 132 - Canada's fifth highest one-day partnership - to steer the chase on a slow subcontinent surface, in the fourth successive match in which a tough track was served up in a World Cup widely expected to be a runfest.

Quick bowler Henry Osinde was Canada's hero in the afternoon, as he ripped through the top order to leave Kenya gasping at 57 for 5 after 15 overs. Kenya, though, just about achieved their captain Jimmy Kamande's goal of playing out 50 overs; gutsy half-centuries from Tanmay Mishra and Thomas Odoyo acting as the bedrock of what was their best batting performance of the tournament.

Osinde was getting the ball to swerve a touch at the start, and that provided him with a wicket off the second delivery of the match, when Maurice Ouma was drawn towards the ball and edged it to slip as he belatedly tried to leave. Seren Waters, the promising opener, was next to go, playing down the wrong line to be bowled for 2. David Obuya became Osinde's third victim, nicking to the keeper as Kenya slid to 21 for 3.

There was more trouble for Kenya when a horrible swipe ended Collins Obuya's promising innings, and their most experienced player Steve Tikolo was adjudged lbw though replays suggested there was an inside-edge. Mishra and Kamande then put on the first of two reviving half-century stands. Just as the partnership started to gather momentum, legspinner Balaji Rao struck, getting Kamande caught behind for 22.

Mishra continued to grind it out, holding the innings together with a carefully constructed knock - 33 of his 51 runs were singles. His second significant stand was with Thomas Odoyo, who was far more aggressive, launching the ball through the off side or down the ground when it was pitched up.

Smart Stats Canada improved their record against Kenya to five wins from 16 matches. In their first nine meetings, they won just one game and lost eight. Since then, they have won four matches and lost none. Canada's win is only their second in World Cups after their 60-run win over Bangladesh in 2003. They have now won two and lost 14 of the 16 matches they've played. Kenya were dismissed for the 16th time for a score under 200 in World Cups. In 27 innings, they have scored over 200 on just 10 occasions. This is the first occasion that Kenya have passed 150 in the 2011 World Cup. Thomas Odoyo scored his first half-century in World Cups. He has scored 414 runs at an average of 24.35 in World Cup matches. He is Kenya's second-highest run getter in ODIs behind Steve Tikolo. Henry Osinde's 4 for 26 is his career-best performance in ODIs and the second-best bowling display by a Canada bowler in World Cups behind Austin Codrington's 5 for 27 in the 2003 World Cup. The 19 runs scored by Kenya in the last five overs is the lowest by any team in the batting Powerplay in the World Cup (min 20 balls faced). The 132-run partnership between Ashish Bagai and Jimmy Hansra is the highest fourth-wicket stand for Canada in World Cups and the second highest fourth-wicket stand for Canada in ODIs.

The pair added 57 before Mishra perished in the 43rd over; Kenya missing a trick by not choosing the batting Powerplay when the two were together. That meant there was no big flourish at the death, and Kenya were bowled out on the final delivery by an inch-perfect yorker from Harvir Baidwan.

The chase began with the promoted Rizwan Cheema giving another short exhibition of his everything-must-go batting philosophy. He survived a first-ball lbw decision, and then whacked two fours and a six before he was bowled attempting yet another agricultural swipe. Kenya kept it tight after that on a pitch where the ball was keeping low, before the game sparked to life.

First, Zubin Surkari was run out by a direct hit from Kamande in the 10th over, then Ruvindu Gunasekara crunched a couple of driven boundaries, before he was reprieved by Nehemiah Odhiambo, who shelled a hard caught-and-bowled chance. Gunasekara didn't build on that, though, as two balls later he was bizarrely stumped, after beginning to take a run when the ball was in the keeper's gloves. The new batsman Hansra popped a dolly to mid-on off the second ball he faced, but that too was dropped, by Waters. In a match that was littered with poor fielding, this was the poorest miss, and it proved to be a pivotal one. Hansra celebrated the let-off with two boundaries in the over.

Things became sedate again after that phase, with Hansra and Bagai mainly taking the singles on a surface which was helping the spinners. Hansra brought out the big hit occasionally but Bagai was very subdued, striking only one boundary in his first 64 deliveries. Kenya started to flag as the partnership blossomed, and though there were some half-chances, Canada picked off the many freebies offered to stay firmly on course for victory.

Bagai started to open up as the target neared and though Hansra was dismissed with the win 19 away, Canada got their with plenty to spare to maintain their recent dominance of Kenya. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.