Kenya Women's Quadrangular T20 tournament: Veronica Abuga heroics send Kenya to the finals

Kenya's power hitter Veronica Abuga produced one of her finest games, surpassing the half century mark with 56 runs off 49 balls to lead the hosts to a nerve-wracking two wickets victory over neighbors Tanzania in the last group stage games held at the Nairobi Gymkhana grounds.

The Kenyans were made to work for it, having to score 132 runs after Tanzania, who had won the toss and elected to bat, set a target of 131 runs in their early innings.

It wasn't a great start for the Kenyan batters, as both openers, Monicah Ndhambi and Mary Mwangi were bowled out in the first three overs; Ndhambi dismissed for a duck on her first ball with Mary Mwangi falling in over 2.4 with the scores at 2/4 and everything looked dire for the home side.

A steady partnership between skipper Sharon Juma and Veronica Abuga was a relief for the Kenyan side as the former hit a seven - ball 12 before exiting the crease courtesy of a Fatuma Kibasu spinning ball that fell into the hands of Monica Pascal.

“There was alot of pressure in today's game," Juma said after the game. ”You could actually see it that I was a bit shaky but credit to my team for backing me up and offering the needed support.”

On the back of an impressive 40-piece batting display against Qatar on Saturday, Venasa Ooko was once again on top of her game, scoring 18 runs over 14 balls faced while establishing a brilliant combo with Abuga, that saw the two go for 53 total runs in over six overs.

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By the time Ooko was bowled out by Ushanga at the 13.1 over, the initial sense of pessimism around the ground had been lifted, as the charged fans broke into early celebrations; often pushing on the Kenyan batters as the Tanzanian bowlers fell off.

"Our bowlers didn't do well enough," Tanzania's wicket-keeper Shufaa Hamza said after the game. "I guess there was too much pressure on them plus their fielding wasn't the best. That I would say was the reason we lost."

The run chase however had to go the last over, Kenya needing a single in the remaining six balls - a feat that was sealed by Melvin Khagoitsa, making a run with her first shot of the game.

The Kenyan bench storming to the pitch and breaking to a dance was indicative of what they had just done - overcoming a tough start to secure a victory that sent them in to the four-nation tournament finals.

“My performance today was down to me simply doing what I was supposed to do," player of the match Abuga said in her post-match interview. "I had to bat well today and give us a chance to win the finals."

On the other hand, Tanzania's captain Fatuma Kibasu was handed a big blow early in the first innings when bowler Lavendah Idambo caught her with the opening ball of the game, sending her out on a duck.

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The Tanzanian pace was however tough to deal with, as her replacement, Shufaa Mohammed did things right, scoring a 38-ball 36 to send the visitors 2/57 after 8.6 overs.

A series of excellent bowling from Flavia Odhiambo and Esther Wachira in the final overs was at the end of the day enough to stopping the evident Kenyan haemorrhage, recording seven wickets at the end of the Tanzanian innings.

“Every match offers us a chance to learn something new," Sharon Juma said. "Whether a win or a loss, we are always working to improve ourselves and it showed today in our fielding.”

With four wins to their name, Kenya (8 points) finished second in the table after the double-round robin games and will now play in Wednesday afternoon's final against Uganda.

Uganda finalized their group games in the morning session with a comfortable seven wickets victory over Qatar, who are expected to play Tanzania in the third place playoff game on Wednesday morning.