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That's not entirely a tongue-in-cheek comment - with captain Vusi Sibanda responsible for over half of Zimbabwe XI's runs in this match, it's fair to say there would have been a very different result in this match. With him, though, Zimbabwe eased to a 5-wicket victory - but not before a second day that left Zimbabwean nerves frayed to the bone, and Kenyan supporters cursing the Zimbabwean captain.

Zimbabwe won the toss and put Kenya into field on a pitch which traditionally tends to be quite batsman-friendly, and sure enough Kenya made the best of their first innings. At the close of Day One they were on 327/9, with Steve Tikolo (61) and Alex Obanda (51) leading the scoring. Early Day Two saw the Kenyans bowled out for 333, though, with Timycen Maruma taking 3/82. So far, so uneventful.

Zimbabwe XI, though, threatened to collapse horribly, though - Chamu Chibhabha fell without a run on the board, and while opened Vusi Sibanda proved a rock at one end of the pitch, regular wickets by the Kenyans were leading to a procession of batsmen at the other. Zimbabwe were in real trouble at 178/7 - and the Regis Chakabva joined Sibanda at the crease, and finally provided the captain with a partner who had staying power. The pair saw the rest of the day through, and early on day three took Zimbabwe past the Kenyan total to secure first-innings points. Chakabva fell shortly afterwards, for a well-earned 67, but Sibanda hung on a while longer, eventually being the last wicket to fall with the score on 352, having amassed a personal best of 209 and, after a long period of poor form, finally showing the talent that we all knew he was capable of. For Kenya, Thomas Odoyo took 3/44, but any Kenyan performances were far overshadowed by Sibanda's heroics, which gave ZimXI a fighting chance again.

In the second innings, Zimbabwe took the get-out-of-jail card they'd been offered and ran with it. Kenya failed to really get going in their second innings, with only the pairing of Maurice Ouma (54) and Obanda (34) making and real headway against a Zimbabwean side that scented victory - Kenya were bowled out again for 254, leaving ZimXI chasing 236 to win the match and secure all 20 points on offer. After some early wobbles, it was the arrival of the crease of that man Sibanda, this time batting at #4, that settled Zimbabwean nerves as he took control of the match - after putting on 156 with Chamu Chibhabha for the 3rd wicket, Sibanda went on to steer ZimXI past the winning line, scoring his second century of the match in the process, ending on 116 not-out.

One man made all the difference, then, and Zimbabwe will have to do some thinking about their batting performance in this match. A win is a win, though, and at the end of the day the margin of victory for Zimbabwe was quite convincing - and demotion to the 'A' side seems to have been just the kick that Sibanda needed. Full scorecard below the cut.
Kenya 333 (92.3 overs; Tikolo 61, Maruma 3/82) & 254 (74.3 overs; Ouma 54, Rainsford 2/25), Zimbabwe XI 352 (103.5 overs; Sibanda 209, Odoyo 3/44) & 238/5 (62.5 overs; Sibanda 116*, Odoyo 1/18). Zimbabwe XI win by 5 wickets.

Kenya 1st innings	
							R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
DO Obuya	lbw b Maruma				37	115	72	5	0	51.38
RR Patel	c Kasteni b Masakadza			14	40	32	3	0	43.75
CO Obuya	run out (Mutizwa/†Chakabva)		21	92	62	2	0	33.87
SO Tikolo	c Sibanda b Chibhabha			61	136	96	12	0	63.54
MA Ouma*†	b Chibhabha				38	106	82	4	0	46.34
A Obanda	c Mutizwa b Maruma			51	92	82	7	0	62.19
JK Kamande	c Jarvis b Maruma			9	28	23	0	0	39.13
TM Odoyo	c Chibhabha b Nyumbu			14	67	52	1	0	26.92
RG Aga		c †Chakabva b Rainsford			9	28	28	1	0	32.14
N Odhiambo	not out					26	44	29	5	0	89.65
HA Varaiya	c Sibanda b Jarvis			7	28	15	0	0	46.66
	Extras	(b 12, lb 3, w 7, nb 19, pen 5)		46					
	Total	(all out; 92.3 overs; 385 mins)		333	(3.60 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Patel, 7.6 ov), 2-85 (DO Obuya, 24.2 ov), 3-91 (CO Obuya, 28.1 ov), 
4-197 (Ouma, 53.3 ov), 5-211 (Tikolo, 57.1 ov), 6-242 (Kamande, 64.5 ov), 7-282 (Obanda, 79.4 ov), 
8-290 (Odoyo, 84.1 ov), 9-302 (Aga, 87.3 ov), 10-333 (Varaiya, 92.3 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
EC Rainsford	13	2	61	1	4.69	(9nb, 4w)	
SW Masakadza	13	1	45	1	3.46		
KM Jarvis	12.3	3	48	1	3.84	(6nb, 1w)	
CJ Chibhabha	14	4	27	2	1.92	(4nb)	
T Maruma	24	5	82	3	3.41	(1w)	
J Nyumbu	15	1	48	1	3.20		
F Kasteni	1	0	2	0	2.00		


Zimbabwe XI 1st innings	
						R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
V Sibanda*	c Obanda b Odhiambo		209	416	320	26	1	65.31
CJ Chibhabha	c Obanda b Aga			0	7	2	0	0	0.00
F Kasteni	c DO Obuya b Odoyo		9	24	17	1	0	52.94
GM Strydom	lbw b Odhiambo			14	38	16	3	0	87.50
T Maruma	c Odoyo b Varaiya		2	14	14	0	0	14.28
SW Masakadza	b Varaiya			2	35	28	0	0	7.14
F Mutizwa	c CO Obuya b Odhiambo		27	51	41	3	1	65.85
KM Jarvis	c DO Obuya b Kamande		9	32	25	1	0	36.00
RW Chakabva†	b Odoyo				67	184	151	9	0	44.37
EC Rainsford	b Odoyo				0	22	10	0	0	0.00
J Nyumbu	not out				0	8	1	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(b 1, lb 8, w 2, nb 2)		13					
	Total	(all out; 103.5 overs)		352	(3.39 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Chibhabha, 1.2 ov), 2-27 (Kasteni, 6.3 ov), 3-74 (Strydom, 15.1 ov), 
4-81 (Maruma, 18.4 ov), 5-101 (Masakadza, 27.3 ov), 6-147 (Mutizwa, 39.5 ov), 
7-178 (Jarvis, 48.2 ov), 8-339 (Chakabva, 98.2 ov), 9-348 (Rainsford, 102.5 ov), 
10-352 (Sibanda, 103.5 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
TM Odoyo	23	9	44	3	1.91	(2nb)	
RG Aga		13	1	59	1	4.53		
N Odhiambo	22.5	3	105	3	4.59	(2w)	
HA Varaiya	23	6	64	2	2.78		
SO Tikolo	11	0	48	0	4.36		
JK Kamande	11	1	23	1	2.09		


Kenya 2nd innings	
							R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
DO Obuya	lbw b Masakadza				37	124	73	5	0	50.68
RR Patel	c †Chakabva b Rainsford			8	25	12	2	0	66.66
CO Obuya	lbw b Masakadza				17	55	39	3	0	43.58
SO Tikolo	lbw b Maruma				0	26	13	0	0	0.00
MA Ouma*†	b Nyumbu				54	122	115	6	0	46.95
A Obanda	c Mutizwa b Nyumbu			34	67	49	1	0	69.38
JK Kamande	b Rainsford				6	24	13	1	0	46.15
TM Odoyo	c Masakadza b Jarvis			23	63	53	0	0	43.39
RG Aga		c & b Maruma				29	55	54	4	0	53.70
N Odhiambo	c sub (S Mwakayeni) b Chibhabha		15	25	21	2	0	71.42
HA Varaiya	not out					4	20	13	0	0	30.76
	Extras	(b 12, lb 7, nb 8)			27					
	Total	(all out; 74.3 overs; 307 mins)		254	(3.40 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Patel, 5.1 ov), 2-49 (CO Obuya, 16.3 ov), 3-68 (Tikolo, 21.1 ov), 
4-76 (DO Obuya, 24.4 ov), 5-157 (Obanda, 44.6 ov), 6-175 (Kamande, 49.4 ov), 7-181 (Ouma, 52.3 ov), 
8-231 (Odoyo, 67.4 ov), 9-233 (Aga, 68.6 ov), 10-254 (Odhiambo, 74.3 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
EC Rainsford	12	1	25	2	2.08	(6nb)	
KM Jarvis	11	4	30	1	2.72		
T Maruma	20	2	60	2	3.00	(1nb)	
SW Masakadza	9	1	42	2	4.66		
CJ Chibhabha	6.3	0	24	1	3.69	(1nb)	
J Nyumbu	16	1	54	2	3.37		


Zimbabwe XI 2nd innings (target: 236 runs)	
							R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
F Kasteni	lbw b Odoyo				0	12	11	0	0	0.00
SW Masakadza	c Tikolo b Aga				14	27	15	3	0	93.33
CJ Chibhabha	lbw b Varaiya				64	174	121	9	0	52.89
V Sibanda*	not out					116	338	172	13	0	67.44
RW Chakabva†	lbw b Kamande				5	13	14	1	0	35.71
T Maruma	c Obanda b Odhiambo			6	29	33	1	0	18.18
F Mutizwa	not out	1				5	19	15	3	0	100.00
	Extras	(b 2, lb 9, w 3, nb 4)			18					
	Total	(5 wickets; 62.5 overs; 311 mins)	238	(3.78 runs per over)

Did not bat: GM Strydom, J Nyumbu, KM Jarvis, EC Rainsford

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Kasteni, 2.5 ov), 2-24 (Masakadza, 5.1 ov), 3-190 (Chibhabha, 47.2 ov), 
4-197 (Chakabva, 50.4 ov), 5-213 (Maruma, 58.5 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
TM Odoyo	6	3	18	1	3.00	(1nb)	
RG Aga		11	2	43	1	3.90	(2nb, 1w)	
N Odhiambo	11.5	0	72	1	6.08	(1nb, 2w)	
JK Kamande	18	3	56	1	3.11		
HA Varaiya	16	4	38	1	2.37