Athanaze ton, Yadram five-for help West Indies register first win

West Indies 318/7 (Athanaze 116, Melius 60, Young 57; Desai 3/54) beat Kenya 96 (Yadram 5/18, Royal 4/25) by 222 runs

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCORECARD, STATS, AND MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

A see-sawing first-innings contest between West Indies and Kenya ended with the Full Member side decidedly on top thanks to a superb Alick Athanaze hundred before Bhaskar Yadram and Jeavor Royal rammed home their advantage, securing victory by 222 runs.

West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl, getting off to a blistering start thanks to Kimani Melius, who plundered 23 runs off the second over of the innings, Maxwel Ager's first, and didn't look back, eventually dismissed for 60 off 45 balls.

At the other end was a complete contrast, Keagan Simmons blocking away and struggling for timing, eventually having his stay mercifully ended after facing two more balls than Melius and scoring just 17. After a mini-collapse of 3/6 - Bhaskar Yadram falling for a duck - Athanaze and Kirstan Kallicharan joined forces, and gave a repeat of their partnership against South Africa, which looked for a moment to have given them the advantage in that game.

But having added 68, Kallicharan played a rash drive and was bowled, and with captain Emmanuel Stewart coming and going for a single, West Indies were five down and still with more than 20 overs to bat. A total of 250 looked beyond them, but Athanaze rebuilt and then accelerated, shepherding the tail expertly. His partnership with No.8 Nyeem Young was especially exhilarating, the pair taking 119 off 14.3 overs to put West Indies firmly in the driving seat.

Kenya enjoyed a much improved performance from their record-breaking pummeling by New Zealand, but dropped catches continued to hurt them. There were almost too many to count, and certainly more than they caught. Athanaze himself gave one life, skying one the ball after reaching his hundred. But it was a sole black mark on an otherwise spotless innings.

But if Kenya were better with the ball, they were much worse with the bat. In their first two games they had batted out their 50 overs, though they were never in danger of forcing a win. Today, having made their way to 50/0, they collapsed to the left-arm spin of Jeavor Royal and the medium pace of Bhaskar Yadram. The two also had a superb fielding effort to thank, with one catch taken by Melius off Royal particularly brilliant.

It highlighted the difference between the sides in all three disciplines and shows why, despite a poor start to the tournament, West Indies should be counted among the favourites for the Plate.