Zimbabwe completed a 5-0 series clean sweep over Kenya on Wednesday, winning the fifth and final match by seven wickets at the Nairobi Gymkhana club.
Zimbabwe, propped up by an unbeaten third-wicket partnership of opener Hamilton Masakadza (84) and Sean Williams (63) easily surpassed their target with 15 overs to spare.
In a match dominated by seamers, Graeme Cremer claimed a career best 4-31 as Kenya were reduced to a paltry 199 after winning the toss.
Raymond Price and Masakadza weighed in with two apiece.
Kenyan all-rounder Collins Obuya was the Kenyan batsman to defy the Zimbabwean seam attack when he posted 75 off 108 balls. But it was all futile as the wickets fell around him.
Kenyan coach Andy Kirsten put a brave face on the series whitewash but he
knows there is growing pressure on his team to perform ahead of the 2011 World Cup qualifiers in South Africa.
"Today's result for us was very disappointing. Right now I am very disappointed. But when I look at the five matches as a whole, Zimbabwe came here as a very good outfit from their tour of Sri Lanka and quite simply outplayed us," said Kirsten.
"However before the start of today's game - after four matches- if things had gone our way a little bit here and there at the early stages of the first two matches, it could have been two each instead of 4-0 down,"he added.
"But I am looking at the positives. There were times in this series where we did compete very well but unfortunately we couldn't put it together at the vital stages."
"We will take a big learning curve out of these matches, and hopeful put those areas where we need to really fix up quite radically in place we get to South Africa."
Kenya will travel to South Africa later this month on an eight-day tour to play four warm-up matches.
Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/component/latest_cricket_news/Story/10189/zimbabwe-complete-5-0-series-annihilation-of-kenya/
Zimbabwe, propped up by an unbeaten third-wicket partnership of opener Hamilton Masakadza (84) and Sean Williams (63) easily surpassed their target with 15 overs to spare.
In a match dominated by seamers, Graeme Cremer claimed a career best 4-31 as Kenya were reduced to a paltry 199 after winning the toss.
Raymond Price and Masakadza weighed in with two apiece.
Kenyan all-rounder Collins Obuya was the Kenyan batsman to defy the Zimbabwean seam attack when he posted 75 off 108 balls. But it was all futile as the wickets fell around him.
Kenyan coach Andy Kirsten put a brave face on the series whitewash but he
knows there is growing pressure on his team to perform ahead of the 2011 World Cup qualifiers in South Africa.
"Today's result for us was very disappointing. Right now I am very disappointed. But when I look at the five matches as a whole, Zimbabwe came here as a very good outfit from their tour of Sri Lanka and quite simply outplayed us," said Kirsten.
"However before the start of today's game - after four matches- if things had gone our way a little bit here and there at the early stages of the first two matches, it could have been two each instead of 4-0 down,"he added.
"But I am looking at the positives. There were times in this series where we did compete very well but unfortunately we couldn't put it together at the vital stages."
"We will take a big learning curve out of these matches, and hopeful put those areas where we need to really fix up quite radically in place we get to South Africa."
Kenya will travel to South Africa later this month on an eight-day tour to play four warm-up matches.
Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/component/latest_cricket_news/Story/10189/zimbabwe-complete-5-0-series-annihilation-of-kenya/
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