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Jaunty Johnson Zimbabwe coasts to victory in all-African match
Posted: Tuesday June 22, 1999 10:16 PM
TAUNTON, England (CNN/SI) - In Saturday's all-African match between Zimbabwe and Kenya, Neil Johnson proved to be the deciding factor as he took four wickets and then hit 59 runs to give Zimbabwe a five wicket victory. Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to send Kenya in to bat first in the Group A clash at the Somerset County Cricket ground. Following a minor middle-order collapse, which was caused by Johnson, Kenya fought back gallantly to score 229 for seven in its allotted 50 overs. Even though was hit around the ground quite a bit at the end of the innings, Johnson finished with a career-best four wickets for 42 runs in his 14th match. The 29-year-old former Leicestershire player then opened Zimbabwe's innings and dominated the Kenyan bowlers, sharing an 81-run partnership with fellow opener Grant Flower (20) in 14 overs. He was finally caught off Thomas Odoyo's bowling on the mid-wicket fence after hitting two sixes and seven fours. Paul Strang, promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter and ahead of an out-of-form Murray Goodwin, scored 29 off 21 balls before he was out to a brilliant catch by Tony Suji at third man, again off Odoyo's bowling. Johnson and Strang hit four sixes between them and were particularly severe on Kenyan skipper Asif Karim, whose left-arm orthodox spin went for 30 runs in three overs. The second wicket pair hit 38 runs off 28 balls to hurry the win. Zimbabwe was coasting at 119 for one in the 19th over but lost three quick wickets to slump to 147 for four in the 25th over. But captains past and present, Andy Flower and Alistair Campbell, steadied the innings and steered Zimbabwe into a winning position. With only the fourth win in 27 World Cup matches in sight and 17 runs away, left-handed Flower took a wild swipe at Maurice Odumbe and fell to a catch at mid-wicket for 34. Campbell was unbeaten on 33 when his team overhauled the target in the 41st over and finished 231 for five. Campbell said he was pleased with his side's batting after struggling in the warm-up matches. "I am glad the batting came through," Campbell said. "It has been worrying us since we arrived in England." "We are batting with a lot of freedom, which will be very handy when you are chasing a total in the excess of 240 against the bigger teams." Although, Campbell was very critical of his side's sloppy fielding and erratic bowling that let Kenyan openers get off to a good 62-run opening stand. Zimbabwe bowlers sent down 25 wides. "The fielding has been our strong point," he said. "It was one of those days when even your best fielder [Grant Flower] missed a fair amount." "It was ridiculous to bowl as many as 25 wides. It is inexcusable in whatever conditions." Campbell said his team's main goal was to win three games and qualify for the Super Sixes. "We have been around for a while and our opponents know what to expect from us," the 28-year-old batsman said. "I don't care about what's said about other teams in the competition, we will play the game very hard." For Kenya, Martin and Tony Suji became the first brothers to open the bowling in a World Cup match. Martin Suji, is a veteran of Kenya's debut World Cup campaign in 1996, while Tony had played just eight international matches going into the tournament. Karim said Kenya was in a tough group and it is very good experience for a young side. "We played well in patches," Karim said. "I am sure our boys will learn a lot from these sort of tournaments," Karim said. Kenya raced to 62 without loss in the 15th over before Johnson struck with three quick wickets and the Kenyans slumped to 87 for four in the 21st over. Johnson's first wicket was Kennedy Otieno, who cut straight to Grant Flower at point and was out for 16. He then had Kenya's leading batsman Steve Tikolo, adjudged caught behind by Andy Flower for nine, and then bowled Hitesh Modi for seven. In the meantime, opener Ravindu Shah scored 37 before he skied an attempted drive off Andrew Whittall directly to Strang. But Kenya fought back when Odumbe and Alpesh Vader (54 off 90 balls) combined for an 84-run fifth-wicket stand. Thomas Odoyo blazed 28 from 20 balls before he became Johnson's fourth wicket in the 48th over and Asif Karim finished unbeaten on 19 off as many balls. Kenya hammered 71 runs in the last 10 overs of the innings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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