Aus v Ken ICC Cricket World Cup 2011: Australia Survive Obuya's Innings to Register Win

Collins Obuya was unfortunate to miss out on a century in one of the most heartwarming performances from Kenya in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, this one against Australia who were made to stretch in their Group A despite the form of Michael Clarke and return of Michael Hussey.

brett lee consoles collins obuya

189 runs partnership between Brad Haddin and Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, kept Australia on track to post a big score at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Haddin himself look good on sixty-five and things seemed to be moving swimmingly until Australia found themselves in a spot of further, not on the run rate but in the number of wickets they lost.

Fortunes fluctuated for Australia, with a flow and ebb that kept matters interesting. 143 for four in the twenty-seventh over, Australia had it in them to make a big score, but were running out of batsmen to do it, leaving themselves on a precipice.

Michael Hussey not only won the case that he was fit but also, fortunate to have a second chance at selection of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Australia did not waste time to blood him back into the game to bolster their middle order and it reaped instant dividends.

Michael Clarke needed a partner and he found the perfect foil in Hussey as the duo raised 134 runs for the fifth wicket that took Australia from a position of vulnerability to a score that would deflate most teams, not just the associate nations of which Kenya is one. While Hussey scored a half century on return, Clarke returned the promise and faith and vindication with ninety-three runs in a vital partnership for Australia to take them to 324.

Kenya appeared to throw in the towel when they lost their second wicket for twenty-one runs. But it was a toil for the Australian bowlers thereafter as Collins Obuya decided to make himself a huge nuisance on the Australia and created a strong impact for his team that has been struggling to garner respect in this edition of the tournament.

With a 115 run partnership for the fourth wicket in the good company of Tanmay Mishra who made seventy-two runs himself, Kenya kept Australia in the field longer than they would have liked with the likes of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson unable to dislodge the assumed weak Kenyan team. The partnership kept interests alive and certainly breathed life into Kenya's campaign.

An unfortunate run of Mishra ended that enterprise but brought Thomas Odoyo to the crease. Odoyo would have liked to have lasted longer than he did because his dismissal meant that Rakip Patel had little clue about rotating the strike, leaving Obuya off strike as Obuya struggled to get the four runs in the final over to get a memorable century against Kenya. Only two runs accrued off the final ball to leave Obuya unbeaten ninety-eight and Kenya proud despite losing to Australia by sixty runs by stretching the three time defending champions.