Misbah-ul-Haq and Afridi bail out Pakistan A

Pakistan A 216 for 6 (Afridi 66, Misbah 64*) beat Kenya 215 (Modi 69, Ravindu 58) by 4 wickets
Scorecard

After a blazing start to the tournament, when they won two matches in a row, Kenya slumped to their second successive defeat, going down by four wickets to Pakistan A in Nairobi. Batting first, Kenya managed only 215, but that seemed enough as Pakistan A slipped to 82 for 5. However, a 109-run stand between Misbah-ul-Haq (64 not out) and Riaz Afridi (66) rescued the innings and gave them their first win of the tournament.

The Kenyan innings got off to a wobbly start when Kennedy Obuya was caught behind off Iftikhar Anjum for a duck (3 for 1), but Ravindu Shah and Hitesh Modi put Kenya in the ascendancy with a 127-run partnership. Modi survived one chance, when he was dropped on 14 by Junaid Zia at third man, but he refused to allow the let-off to affect him, going for his strokes and running hard between the wickets.

At 131 for 1 in the 29th over, Kenya were in charge, but things turned sour soon after, as Ravindu was caught in the covers off Qaiser Abbas for 58, and Steve Tikolo was bowled by Mansoor Amjad for a duck. Modi was then bowled by Naved Latif for 69, and though Thomas Odoyo resisted, making an unbeaten 39, Kenya could only manage 215.

That looked like a winning total, as Odoyo and Martin Suji reduced Pakistan A to 36 for 4 by the 11th over. Latif and Misbah steadied the innings somewhat, but when Latif was trapped in front by Lameck Onyango for 38, Kenya were in sight of a second consecutive win against Pakistan A.

Then came the matchwinning partnership between Afridi and Misbah. The Kenyans did have one chance to break the stand, but Onyango dropped Afridi at long-off. Afridi was finally bowled by Ongondo for 66, but Misbah ensured that Pakistan A got to their target without further alarms.