Five wickets from Peter Ongondo restricted Sri Lanka A to 194 before Maurice Ouma and Tanmay Mishra powered Kenya to their first win in the tri-nation series at Nairobi.
Ouma combined with Mishra to steady the chase after Chanaka Welegedera had struck twice in succession to leave Kenya stumbling at 14 for 2. Both the batsmen helped themselves to short offerings from the seamers to move the score along. Ouma turned on the heat in the 17th over when he smashed Dammika Prasad for four boundaries. He pinged the long-on and the long-off boundary with lofted shots and pulled to the square-leg boundary before slogging one over the ropes again to propel Kenya comfortably ahead of the required rate.
Kenya were sitting pretty at 101 for 2 when Rangana Herath removed Ouma in the 21st over. Four overs later, Kaushal Lokuarachchi induced a nick from Collins Obuya to present a window of opportunity to the visitors. Sri Lanka almost crashed through it by removing Mishra and Alex Obanda in quick succession to leave Kenya at a wobbly 150 for 6 but Thomas Odoyo found support in Jimmy Kamande and the pair took Kenya close. Kamande put the equation in the hosts' favour with three boundaries in the 41st over off Prasad. There was an edge past the lone slip, a smashing pull to deep midwicket and a drive through cover as Kenya moved from 164 to 180.
Kulasekara prised out two more wickets but Odoyo held firm and brought up the winning runs with a drive through cover.
Earlier, Ongondo grabbed the first three wickets in his initial spell and then came on to knock over the lower-order batsmen as Sri Lanka failed to complete their quota of 50 overs, a continuing trend in this series. Sri Lanka did far better that Kenya and India A, who scored 98 and 102 while batting first in the earlier games, in conditions far more conducive to batting with the sun coming out.
Odoyo, Kenya's captain, won the toss and chose to field. The move appeared to be working when Ongondo struck in the third ball of the first over. Mahela Udawatte cut one square, but straight to Kamande at point. Malinga Warnapura was Ongondo's next wicket, nicking one to Ouma, the wicketkeeper. Ongondo had Sri Lanka tottering at 42 for 3, when Kamande caught one over his head at cover, Dilruwan Perera stepping out to hit one over the top. Chamara Kapudegara and Thilina Kandamby fell to Odoyo and Nehemiah Odhiambo soon after, with Sri Lanka tottering at 81 for 5.
Kaushal Silva, the wicketkeeper, scored 60 and ensured his team were not dismissed for a paltry total. Silva and Lokuarachchi put on 61 for the sixth wicket, before Kamande had Lokuarachchi trapped leg-before. Prasad made a quick 31 off 34 balls before Ongondo removed him in his second spell. Silva was now running out of partners, and two run outs off successive balls put an end to Sri Lanka's innings.
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