Ireland beat Kenya in the first of the three ODI series by three wickets at Dublin. Chasing 215 for a win, Ireland lost seven wickets and won with seven balls to spare.
Batting first after winning the toss seemed to have been vindicated for Kenya as David Obuya and Kennedy Otieno added 80 for the first wicket before getting separated. Obuya scored 41, but Otieno went on to hit 78 off 115 balls. However, the problem that Kenya faced was that apart from the first stand, there was none other to shore up the innings. Kenya lost regular wickets and crashed to 214/9 in the fifty overs. The acceleration never came and the last 19 over saw the addition of 88 runs only.
Kyle McCallan bagged a four wicket haul.
In reply to this, Ireland did not begin too well, but with their captain William Porterfield holding one end up, and smallish consistent partnerships, Ireland achieved their target. At one stage, with 54 needed off 67 deliveries and with half their side out, it could have been anyone’s game, but John Mooney played a reasonable hand of 27 runs to see the team through.
Thomos Odoyo finished with figures of 4/33 in his ten overs.