Thomas Odoyo blasted Kenya to a one wicket victory over Ireland this afternoon, hitting 20 runs off the penultimate over to send the small, but excitable crowd into raptures at the Ruaraka ground in Nairobi. Keeping his head where some of the earlier batsmen had lost theirs, Odoyo put on 54 for the last wicket with Hiren Varaiya, who added 5 crucial runs of his own. Kenya needed 10 runs-an-over off the final four, and Ireland were scenting victory with all but 2 of the Kenyans back in the pavilion, when the Kenyan vice captain cut loose.

Kevin O'Brien, who had batted so beautifully earlier in the day bowled the first of the four overs and Odoyo made his intentions clear when he hoisted him out of the ground for six off the fourth ball. Botha, who had been fantastic for Ireland earlier, taking 4 of the wickets that had given Kenya the wobbles, was still able to keep the boundaries down, but fast running between the wickets allowed 10 runs to be taken in twos and singles. O'Brien was then replaced by Langford-Smith who looked to tie up Varaiya. He succeeded for one ball, and then the number 11 was able to take a quick single and give the hard hitting all-rounder the strike.

The crowd on the boundary were yelling advice along the lines of ‘over the top' and ‘finish it, finish it!' and Odoyo obliged. The next two balls sailed over the bowler's head and had the crowd on their feet singing and dancing. Cutting the next ball away for four, Odoyo could sense victory and finished it with a clipped boundary off the last ball of the over. Anyone who thinks that the supporters are not passionate about their cricket in Kenya should have seen the crowd surging onto the pitch to engulf the players in a singing and dancing mob. Not great for security perhaps, but fantastic scenes none the less.

Earlier in the day, Steve Tikolo had won the toss and elected to field. Once again, the opening pair of Odoyo and Ongondo caused problems for their opposition and Kenya were off to a great start when Ongondo had both Carroll and Morgan back in the pavilion with the score on 18. When Tikolo ran Niall O'Brien out with a direct hit with the score on 57, some in the press box were mentioning another early beer. Kevin O'Brien and Porterfield had other ideas. Their partnership started slowly as both batsmen consolidated their position at the crease and then gained momentum. It was initially Porterfield, coming off a century in the previous match, who was the aggressor, but it was O'Brien who really turned it on towards the end of the innings.

Consecutive centuries, today's effort 104* off 129 balls, should have given Porterfield the headlines. O'Brien's late innings dash took them away again. Having reached his fifty off 85 balls, he reached his hundred off 107 balls, and finished on 142 off 125 when he was run out off the final ball of the day, selfless to the last looking for that extra run. The partnership they put together for the fourth wicket is an Irish record in ODIs and they can be very proud of a fantastic achievement.

Kenya will not be pleased with their effort in the field - several catches were put down, and it looked a rusty performance from a team that up until now had looked so slick. Several times overthrows were given away and return throws for run out attempts also failed to find their targets. As a couple of the players commented afterwards, it is not acceptable at this level, and no doubt they will work hard to get things right for the match against Scotland.

Kenya's run chase did not get off to the greatest of starts when Langford-Smith had Ouma trapped lbw for 6 with the score still on 9, but Kenya turned things around by sending in Nehemiah Odhiambo as a pinch hitter. It was a tactic that paid off as the youngster went on to record a personal best of 66 off 83, including two towering sixes. Though Kenya kept the scoreboard ticking over, wickets also fell regularly once David Obuya was back in the pavillion with the score on 83 - McCallan the main destroyer for the Irish with a very respectable 4/36 off his ten. Several Kenyan players contributed runs to the win, not least Tanmay Mishra, who despite falling on 49, was more concerned that the team won than personal milestones. In the end though, it was Thomas Odoyo's afternoon and his innings that brought Kenya home: one to treasure for all Kenya fans, one that the Irish will want to forget.