Overnight rain causes Mombasa frustration

There was frustration and disappointment for Kenyan cricket officials and followers on Saturday with the abandonment of the third day's play in the fourday match between Kenya and the touring West Indians.

Early morning rain in the coastal town of Mombasa seeped through the covers of the Sports Ground pitch, leaving the umpires no alternative but to abandon the day's play before the scheduled 10am start.

The four-day game, the closest thing the Kenyans have yet experienced to Test match cricket, is now destined to fizzle to a draw on Sunday. The West Indies are 118 without loss in their first innings in reply to Kenya's 290.

The main interest in Sunday's action will be to see how far not out batsmen Chris Gayle (61) and Daren Ganga (53) can extend their individual scores, and to see what sort of form the remaining West Indian batsmen, including Hinds, Sarwan and Samuels, can display.

With a three-match series of official one-day internationals to commence on Wednesday, Kenya are facing some injury worries. Sandeep Gupta, making his first appearance for Kenya in eighteen months, has a fractured finger after being struck by a delivery from Reon King in the first innings. Thomas Odoyo bowled just one over on Friday, suffering a recurrence of a knee problem.

Gupta and Odoyo join batsman Ravindu Shah on Kenya's injury list.