Canada battled back to a strong position against Kenya on Saturday, the opening day of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Maple Leaf Country Club in King City, Ontario.
Canada looked in trouble at 102-7, despite useful knocks from veteran Pubudu Dassanayake (26) and Ashish Bagai (21). Qaiser Ali made 91 not out, leading a recovery with support from the tail-end batsman.
Coach Andy Pick described the innings as "superb."
"He played shots all round the wicket. He was harsh on loose deliveries and short ones," Pick said of Ali's effort.
Ali had support from Umar Bhatti, Henry Osinde, and the debut-making Puvendran Ravishankar, who each made 13. Paecmen Peter Ongondo (4-49) and Thomas Odoyo (3-49) made life difficult for the early Canadian batsment. Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo took three catches. The Kenyan first innings was soon derailed by a fierce opening spell from Henry Osinde (2-5) and Umar Bhatti (2-9) to leave Kenya on 14-4 at the close, some 221 runs behind Canada. Bhatti picked up the prized wicket of Tikolo, who has been a prolific scorer in Intercontinental Cup matches.
Ali said he was "very, very happy" with his score.
"I'm a bit sad I did not get the 100, but we got the total we needed," he said.
The Kenyans were disappointed with the start, but remained optimistic about the chances against Canada.
"We didn't build on our excellent start," said Kenyan Roger Harper.
"We allowed them to recover to 235. I still feel the team have enough batting to compete for first innings points."
Play resumes at 10:30 a.m. today in the match that is scheduled to last four days.
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