13th African Games | Kenya record upset win at the African Games when they beat Team SA Cricket Mens Team

Kenya recorded an upset at the African Games in Accra on Monday when they beat Team SA by 70 runs in their Group A match at the Achimota Senior Secondary School.

All matches in the 13th African Games are awarded full T20I status, which will have made the victory even sweeter for the Kenyans. They dominated the game from start to finish.

Their captain Rakep Patel won the toss and elected to bat first. They made a fast start with Neil Mugabe and 42-year-old Collins Obuya, playing in his 74th T20I, putting on 31 for the first wicket before Dylan Bester made the breakthrough in the fifth over.

Obuya was joined by Sukhdeep Singh and the pair took the total to 83 when Jason Raubenheimer had Singh caught for 10.

Obuya was third man out with the total on 97 in the 15th over, but he’d played the match-winning role. The veteran chalked up a record ninth fifty for Kenya on his way to hitting an impressive 58 off 47 balls. Patel, the captain, chipped in with a rapid 28 off 26 balls and despite two wickets falling in the final over, Kenya had set Team SA a total of 142 to win.

Given their batting display on Sunday when they amassed 237 for 2 against Ghana, they would have been confident.

However, Kenya had other ideas. Heinrigh Pieterse was bowled for 4 in the third over and then Maahir Joseph (12) and Lehan Botha (1) were out in quick succession, and suddenly Team SA were lurching at 19-3.

Van Heerden, who on Sunday had become only the fifth player in T20I history to score a century on debut, again top-scored for Team SA with 22 at a run a ball. However, when he fell in the 11th over and Keagan Lion-Cachet went two balls later for 16, Team SA were lurching.

They were 56-5, needing another 86 to win in 55 balls. Do-able with wickets in hand, but when five batters were back in the hut, the pendulum had swung.

Team SA’s lower order folded, their last five wickets being taken with the addition of only 15 runs, leaving Kenya to celebrate a famous upset win.

Team SA now need to regroup quickly before their next match against Uganda on Wednesday.

Photo of Jason Raubenheimer by Roger Sedres in Accra

Source: Team SA