Stephan Baard's brilliant 97 steered hosts Namibia to a convincing five wicket win against African neighbours Kenya in their opening WCL Division Two clash.

22 year-old Baard dominated the Namibian pursuit of a modest target of 192, striking 9 fours and a six in his 97 from just 96 balls.

He dominated an opening stand of 56 with Gerrie Snyman (16), and in conjunction with Raymond van Schoor took the game away from Kenya in a scintillating 4th wicket stand of 85 in just 91 balls.

Van Schoor proved the perfect foil for Baard, stroking four boundaries in his 33 from 46 balls, after Kenya were given brief hope by the cheap dismissals of Gerard Erasmus (12) and Craig Williams (0).

Although Baard fell three short of a deserved hundred - one of three victims for the impressive Nelson Odhiambo (3-34) - skipper Nicolaas Scholtz (17*) and Sarel Burger (9*) ensured there were no further alarms as they coasted to victory with 10.4 overs to spare.

It was Odhiambo's efforts with the bat which had taken the Kenyan score to semi-repsectabilty after a poor start.
He top scored with 54 from 76 balls (3 fours, 1 six), sharing a 6th wicket stand of 78 with skipper Rakep Patel (39) after Kenya had been stuttering on 79 for 5.

Sarel Burger's (3-40) initial new ball burst had been primarily responsible for that, as he took the first three wickets to reduce them to 16 for 3.