da blaze casino： Ravindu Shah and Hitesh Modi, two players of Indian origin held the Kenyanbatting together with constrasting half-centuries on opening day of thefirst four-day unofficial cricket Test against Sri Lanka ‘A’ at theSaravanamuttu Stadium yesterday
Saadi Thawfeeq31-Jan-2002Ravindu Shah and Hitesh Modi, two players of Indian origin held the Kenyanbatting together with constrasting half-centuries on opening day of thefirst four-day unofficial cricket Test against Sri Lanka ‘A’ at theSaravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.Choosing to bat first after winning the toss, Kenya finished on 282 foreight with Shah scoring a handsome 94 spiced with 20 fours and Modi, apatient 52 in 208 minutes.All in all their total was an exceptionally good one considering the factthat their three key players, Kennedy Otieno, Steve Tikolo and skipperMaurice Odumbe made only 20 runs amongst them.The Kenyan batsmen were not afraid to punish the loose balls on a fast andbouncy pitch that gave both batsmen and bowlers equal opportunities. Thatmore than 60 percent of the runs (43 fours) Kenya scored during the day camefrom boundaries is a true reflection of how well the ball came onto thebat – pity that such pitches are seldom prepared in Test matches here.The arrival of the second new ball after 81 overs, not only gave Sri Lanka’A’ the wicket of Collin Obuyo when he was trapped lbw by Ruchira Perera for16, but also produced 40 runs off nine overs. Obuyo and Otieno Suji added 45for the ninth wicket in 52 minutes.The day however belonged to Nairobi-born 29-year-old Shah who held thecentre stage for the best part of the morning and into the afternooncompiling 94 off 135 balls. The tall right-hander with an upright stanceplayed stylishly, batting for 195 minutes before he fell at 137 when hemistimed a drive and gave leg-spinner Upul Chandana a low return catch.He held the Kenyan top order together after they had lost the key wickets ofOtieno (13), Tikolo (0) and Odumbe (7) to Perera and Prabath Nissanka. Shahhad a reprieve at 51 when Chamara Silva dropped a simple catch at square legoff Perera.”It was difficult playing under these conditions. It was quite hot outthere. The first 20 overs were testing because the ball was bouncing alittle bit,” said Shah who got a couple of first-class hundreds againststate sides on the tour to India recently.”It would have been nice if we had lost only three or four wickets at theend of the day, but it is a good first day total,” said Shah.Left-handed Modi an experienced campaigner at 30 scored his secondhalf-century against Sri Lanka hitting five fours in his 138-ball innings.He scored an unbeaten 78 against Sri Lanka in 1996, which is the highest ofhis four one-day fifties.Modi shared in stands of 59 and 47 with Shah and Thomas Odoyo who struckseven fours in a quickfire 34 off 39 balls.Perera was the pick of the Sri Lankan ‘A’ bowlers finishing the day withthree for 63.The other two quicks, Prabath Nissanka and Kaushalya Weeraratne, paid thepenalty for over pitching; each being struck for three fours in an over byShah and Modi respectively.Weeraratne was playing only his second first-class match after beingsidelined by injury since January last year and looked rather ordinary.Nissanka bowled with pace and bounce but lacked direction. When he was online he looked dangerous and had the batsmen ducking for cover.Chandana picked up the wickets of Kenya’s two main runs scorers Shah andModi to end the day with figures of two for 58.