On this day in 2003: Kenya take down Sri Lanka in a show of strength
The 2003 Cricket World Cup proved to be a landmark event for the Kenyan national cricket team. After showing impressive performances in the last two World Cups, Kenya was getting an opportunity to co-host the tournament with South Africa and Zimbabwe. By then, Zimbabwe was one of the stronger teams in international cricket and got to play all their group stage matches in their country.
When it came to Kenya, they got two matches in Nairobi. The one against New Zealand was abandoned as the Blackcaps refused to travel to Kenya. This gave them a win in the group stage and allowed them to have some points. But, that also meant that the Kenyan fans were stripped off from an opportunity to watch the national team play in a World Cup. For a country like Kenya, this was going to be heartbreaking. But, Sri Lanka, who were the other teams who were scheduled to play in Nairobi didn’t back down and took the flight.
The historic game
For Kenya, this was going to be the only match of the World Cup and players decided to make it a historical one. Sri Lanka came into this match after bowling out Bangladesh and Canada for 124 and 36 respectively in their previous matches, the latter being the lowest ODI total then. Kenya batted first and there might have been a feeling that they would go down like Bangladesh and Canada when Chaminda Vaas got a wicket off his second ball. But, Kenya was not going to go down and disappoint their fans in their only opportunity to witness a World Cup match.
Opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Kennedy Otieno held one end with his knock of 60, while others chipped in with some crucial runs. Wickets kept falling throughout the innings but there were small partnerships, which helped Kenya to reach a respectable total of 210 for 9 from their 50 overs.
But, 211 was never going to be a huge task for a batting line-up that had Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Marvan Atapattu and Hashan Tillakaratne. The only problem was that the Kenyan bowling unit was not going to give up. After the bowlers upfront created some pressure, it was Collins Obuya’s turn to surprise everyone. The leg-spinner bowled a terrific spell of 10 overs, where he conceded only 24 runs and took five wickets.
That spell destroyed Sri Lanka’s chances of winning the match. They were ultimately bowled out for 157, going down to the hosts by 53 runs. The points which Kenya got, helped them to qualify for the next round, eventually making it to the sem-final as well. The Kenyan national team has not had any major success in the past decade, but on this afternoon in Nairobi, the country witnessed its most famous win in cricket.
