Kuwait Beat Kenya by 150 Runs — Ravija Sandaruwan's 162 off 114 Carries Kuwait into the Qualifier Play-off Places

Twenty-four hours after Clinto Anto's 113 off 77 took Jersey apart at this ground, Kuwait found a bigger innings from a different batter. Ravija Sandaruwan, out for 18 off 9 on Tuesday, made 162 off 114 balls on Wednesday, and Kuwait, put in by Kenya, finished on 367 for 9. Anto added 47 off 32. Shem Ngoche took 3 for 49 and Lucas Oluoch 2 for 46, each in ten overs, and both can feel they did their job on a day the total still ran away from Kenya.

Kenya's reply reached 90 for 1 in the 12th over, Subham Patel hitting ten fours and a six in 57 off 46, and then lost nine wickets for 127. Mohammed Aslam took 4 for 33 through the middle, and Kenya were all out for 217 in the 43rd over. Kuwait won by 150 runs. The result lifts them to 18 points and into second place in Challenge League A, the position that goes to the CWC Qualifier Play-off in Kathmandu in December alongside Jersey, who had already secured their place.

Kenya won the toss and chose to field, and the decision will be judged by one number: 367. Sandaruwan's 162 came off 114 balls, a strike rate of 142 over an innings that lasted the equivalent of 19 overs, and it was bigger than Anto's 113 against Jersey the day before. Anto's 47 off 32 kept the tempo up when he was in, and Kuwait lost nine wickets in getting to their total, which tells you something about how they went about it: they kept attacking rather than settling for 320.

What we cannot yet tell you is how the innings was shaped. At the time of writing ESPNcricinfo had not published the scorecard for this match, and the sources available to us carried only the headline scores and the two top contributions from Kuwait's innings. We do not know the partnerships, the fall of wickets or how many sixes Sandaruwan hit, and we would rather say so than guess. What is confirmed is that Shem Ngoche finished with 3 for 49 and Lucas Oluoch with 2 for 46, each from a full ten overs, which on a day when 367 went up is honest work. The remaining four Kuwait wickets were shared between Kenya's other bowlers and we will fill in the detail when the full card arrives.

Kenya's chase, as reported by Khelnow's innings card, began well. Dhiren Gondaria, the captain, was caught and bowled by Meet Bhavsar for 13 at 24, but Subham Patel and Irfan Karim added 66 for the second wicket at better than a run a ball, Patel hitting ten fours and a six. At 90 for 1 after 12 overs the required rate was high but the scoreboard was not yet frightening. Then Nimish Lathief took two wickets inside two overs: Karim caught by Ali Zaheer for 18, and Patel lbw for 57 off 46 at 95 for 3 in the 14th over. Kenya's two most fluent batters were gone with 273 still needed.

Mohammed Aslam took the middle apart. Rakep Patel was caught by a substitute for 14 at 117, Sukhdeep Singh lbw for 1 at 121, Sachin Bhudia caught by Yasin Patel for a 44-ball 27 at 156, and Francis Mutua bowled for 3 at 168: four wickets in 12 overs for a bowler who had taken 1 for 38 against Jersey the day before. Sachin Gill hit two fours and a six in 29 off 30 before Bhavsar bowled him at 170 for 8, and Shiraz Khan had Oluoch caught by Lathief at 187. The last pair, Shem Ngoche and Vraj Patel, added 30, Ngoche making 30 off 30 with four fours and a six to go with his three wickets, before Ali Zaheer had him caught by Muhammad Aqif Farooq in the 43rd over. Ngoche was Kenya's best bowler and their second-highest scorer; that is a good day for him and a telling one for his side.

Ruaraka has now hosted two Kuwait innings in two days, and they scored at better than six and a half an over in the first and better than seven in the second. The surface is a good one for batting if you commit, and Kuwait have committed. Kenya's bowlers were not the problem in isolation: Ngoche and Oluoch bowled their full allocations at under five an over. The problem was that nobody else could contain the scoring while Sandaruwan was set, and 367 on this ground, against this attack, left Kenya needing the innings of their lives from someone. Patel's 57 was the best start they could have hoped for. It needed to be 150.

On Tuesday he was out in the third over for 18. On Wednesday he batted long enough to make 162 off 114 balls, the only century of the match and the biggest innings by a Kuwait batter in the two games CricIntel has reviewed at Ruaraka this week. There is a particular confidence in a top order where Anto and Sandaruwan take turns doing this: a bowler who has just seen one of them go cannot relax, because the other is next. The full shape of the innings will be clearer when the complete scorecard is published, but the headline is already secure. Kuwait needed a win to put themselves in the top two, and Sandaruwan made sure the match was decided before Kenya had batted.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Kuwait's week in Nairobi has turned around completely. They were bowled out for 172 by Denmark on Saturday; since then they have beaten Jersey by seven wickets and Kenya by 150 runs, and they sit second in Challenge League A on 18 points with the Nairobi leg finishing on October 31. Second place takes them to Kathmandu in December for the CWC Qualifier Play-off, alongside Jersey, who had already sealed the top spot before this round. For Kenya, already out of the top-two race, the week has brought a four-run defeat to Qatar, a 123-run defeat to Jersey and now this. The batting has produced starts, Patel's 57 the latest, but no one has gone on, and against totals like 367 a start is not enough.