T20 WCQ: Shem Ngoche strikes late to hand Kenya marginal win over Nigeria

At the end of a stop-start mid-morning at the United and Wanderers Cricket Grounds in Windhoek, Namibia on Thursday, everything came down to the powerful bat of Shem Ngoche, as he dug Kenya from a hole to beat opponents Nigeria by four wickets in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup - Africa Qualifiers.

After seemingly looking beaten throughout the second innings - that at some point saw play halted due to rain - Ngoche, coming on as Kenya’s eighth batter in the 18th over, delivered the team’s most crucial stretch, scoring 19 runs in the nineteenth over, to set up a tense finish, and one that was ultimately delivered by his partner Lucas Ndandason as he hit the second-last ball to the boundary with just two runs needed.

Kenya, from holding Nigeria to 121 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the first innings, had just managed to squeak through with 124/6, marking their second consecutive victory in the seven-nation tournament that bowled off on Wednesday.

“I was prepared from the first instance to power-hit,” Ngoche, who was named the man of the match, said post game.

Asked about his position to bat, he added: “I am actually not feeling well, I have an eye infection and so let the others come in first before coming on.”

What if he was 100 percent remains a mystery, especially on a day where he posted a total 23 runs off 11 balls, while still getting a wicket during the first innings.

Vraj Patel picked two wickets as Kenya won the toss and elected to bowl, and after a decent score of under 50 runs at the halfway stage, the duo of Isaac Danladi and Prosper Useni racked in 46 and 37 runs respectively to make it a tall order for Kenya when they came out to bat.

Veteran Collins Obuya was dismissed early after 3.3 overs for just six runs, and if that didn’t paint a bad feeling to the game, the sight of Kenya’s slow batters in the opening phases did, as Sukhdeep Singh, Pushkar Sharma and Nelson Odhiambo were dismissed for minimal gains.

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Opener Rushab Patel hit a team-high 32 runs from 38 balls, ultimately leading to an emphatic run-chase that at some resembled: 35 runs from 23, and 16 runs from nine.

After rain looked to see Kenya slump to defeat via the DLS rule, all things went Kenya’s way, as they now sit on top of the group with a perfect record in two games.

“We had our hearts pumping a bit there, but it was our day,” stand-in captain Ndandason said.