NEWS

Gayle force innings hands West Indies whitewash over Kenya

Nairobi, Aug 19: Chris Gayle's whirlwind knock of 70 in 70 balls inspired the West Indies to a comprehensive seven wicket defeat of Kenya on Sunday and completed a 3-0 rout of their hosts in the three one-day internationals.

Set a target of 233, West Indies won the game with three overs to spare.

Gayle featured in a rousing opening stand of 116 with new partner Leon Garrick, and the two negotiated the early overs with ease before they were both removed by off spinner Steve Tikolo, who himself had scored a sterling 71.

Gayle's immaculate innings was enough to earn the big off-spinner, the man of the series.

Garrick, who made his one-day debut in South Africa's tour of the Carribean earlier this year, was cruising to his maiden century when he was clean bowled by the man of the match Tikolo for 76.

With the departure of Gayle and Garrick, left hander Wavell Hinds kept the tempo going and finished unbeaten on 44.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the hero of the second day, faced only one ball in his brief period at the crease and blasted the winning four runs.

Kenya had remained focussed on winning their first match of the series, but were led down by inept bowling performance which has been a cause of concern for the Kenyan selectors.

Apart from Tikolo, the only successful bowler was Jimmy Kamande, who in removing Marlon Samuels, captured his first international wicket.

However the home side had started well, with openers David Obuya and Ravindu Shah playing better than they have done before.

Star batsman Tikolo, who had a good game with both the bat and the ball, put together a gem of an innings before he was trapped off the bowling of Colin Stuart.

West Indies return home from the African tour with their heads held high after their success in Zimbabwe and Kenya, while Kenya will host two provincial teams from India before travelling to South Africa for a triangular series, which will also involve India in October.