Dhaniram and Bhatti lead the way for Canada

Kenya 8 for 1 trail Canada 263 (Dhaniram 78, Bhatti 57, Kamande 4-56) by 255 runs
Scorecard

A captain's knock from Sunil Dhaniram gave Canada a fighting chance on day one of its ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya in Nairobi.

With his side struggling on 121-6, all-rounder Dhaniram was joined at the crease by number eight batsman Umar Bhatti and, as they have done many times before for their country, they frustrated the bowling and showed they are more than capable of scoring runs at this level. The pair put on 99 for the seventh wicket with Dhaniram eventually being dismissed for a crucial 78.

Bhatti didn't stop there, however, and with Durand Soraine, he put on another 40 runs, making a classy half-century and making sure Canada ended up with 263 all out.

The day had started well for the visitors with Abdul Jabbar Chaudrey (49) and Mohammad Iqbal (28) putting on 78 for the first wicket. But then fourth-change bowler Jimmy Kamande took control of the situation taking four wickets and running out wicketkeeper-batsman Ashif Mulla. The 28-year-old off-spinner finished the day with impressive figures of 24-10-56-4.

He was backed up by fellow slow bowler Hiren Veraiya, who bowled 21 overs, taking 2-47.

But Canada had the last laugh when Bhatti, who had done so much for his side with the bat, clean bowled Maurice Ouma with the first ball of the Kenya innings to make sure the match remained nicely poised overnight. When Kenya resumes its innings on day two it will do so 255 runs behind with nine wickets in hand.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now ICC's premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members' cricket schedule.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in both events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider and Canada earlier this year in the 2006-07 event.

The final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007/08 will take place in November 2008 at a venue yet to be decided.