Scotland 170 for 6 (Sole 33, Obuya 2-12) beat Kenya 139 for 8 (Karim 51, Berrington 3-17) by 31 runs
Richie Berrington was instrumental in Scotland's victory over Kenya, his half-century partnership with Calum MacLeod forming the basis of their 170-run total and then, with Kenya mounting a serious charge, his double-strike in the 15th over ensured an eventually comfortable 31-run victory.
After choosing to bat first, Scotland lost both openers relatively cheaply. Captain Kyle Coetzer was bowled missing a sweep for 14, before George Munsey fell driving to mid-off for 23 to make it 43 for 2 in the Powerplay. But Berrington joined MacLeod and kept the innings steady with a 53-run third-wicket stand. MacLeod fell edging behind on a failed attempt to glide a single to third man before Berrington was bowled by a googly from Collins Obuya in the space of six balls to make it 98 for 4.
In an innings that included many medium-sized nuggets - every one of the top seven reached double-digits - the most valuable of them all came from Tom Sole at No. 7. The offspinning allrounder sped to an unbeaten 33 off 18, utilising scoops and flicks to manipulate the field around his four fours and a six, to get Scotland up to a competitive total.
Kenya were cruising through the first half of the chase, the only hiccup coming when Alex Obanda pulled Sole to deep midwicket in the eighth. They also took advantage of sloppy fielding from Scotland, opener Irfan Karim surviving a run-out chance on 12 in the fourth over when Coetzer missed a free shot at the non-striker's end after the batsman had given up in a moment of miscommunication with Obanda. The reprieved Irfan brought up his half-century in the 14th over, and Kenya went into the last six needing 62 runs off 36 balls with eight wickets in hand.
It took Berrington's intervention to finally dislodge Irfan for 51. With Alasdair Evans dropped following Friday's loss to Singapore as Scotland opted for an extra spinner in Mark Watt, Berrington was called upon to fill some extra overs with his medium pace and turned the game with the second string in his bow, finishing with 3 for 17 in three overs.
Berrington's momentum-shifting burst started with a back of a length delivery skidding below Irfan's pull and into the top of off stump. Four balls later, he induced a drive from Rakep Patel to substitute fielder Michael Leask at long-off, leaving Kenya with 60 to get off 31 balls.
Safyaan Sharif then snuffed out Kenya's last hope when he bowled Obuya in the 17th over with a full and straight ball before Leask took another catch at long-off driven by Jasraj Kundi to put Sharif on a hat-trick. Berrington came back for one more in the 18th, claiming Shem Ngoche with a slower bouncer top-edged behind to clinch Man of the Match honours.
