NAIROBI, 19 August 2007 — Three batsmen including skipper Mohammed Kaif scored half centuries against Kenya yesterday to put India A in the final of the triangular one-day tournament.

Kenyan captain Thomas Odoyo was left to rue his decision to allow India A to bat first after he won the toss as the Indian Blues, despite losing an early wicket went on to set a big total of 280 in their 46 overs.

Paceman Peter Ongondo, who took five wickets against Sri Lanka A on Thursday, threatened early when he removed former India Test star Pathiv Patel for one but after that the tourists took charge of the match.

Kaif, coming in at No. 3 combined well with Praveen Kumar, hitting a quickfire fire 64 in a 91-run second wicket partnership which would eventually become the cornerstone to the Indian innings.

Cheteshwar Pujara (67) was another batsman to reach a half century but it was another Test discard, Irfan Pathan, whose explosive 48 off only 24 balls helped put the result beyond the Kenyans.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and fast-bowler Yo Mahesh took three wickets each while Kumar grabbed two in his all-round performance to earn the man of the match award.

In reply Kenya, who have failed to beat India A in four matches of their tour were all out for 200. Batsman Alex Obanda led the Kenyan fightback but fell short of his first career half century by four runs when he was tricked to a short ball and was stumped by Patel off the bowling of Ojha on 46.

Rain Ruins India

One-Day Warm-Up

In Northampton, England, India’s hopes of a decent workout ahead of their seven match one-day series with England suffered a washout yesterday.

The tourists were set a target of 297 by England Lions in their final game before the series against England gets under way in Southampton on Tuesday.

But India had just 6.5 overs at the crease with openers Robin Uthappa (12) and Saurav Ganguly (18) putting on 31 before the heavens opened and the game was abandoned.

Ganguly smashed three fours on his return to the ground where he spent just over a month last year playing in the English County Championship.

Earlier, Lions skipper Vikram Solanki (60) and Luke Wright (56) hit half-centuries as the hosts made 296 off their 50 overs.

Wright made his runs off just 40 balls as he and opener Solanki put on a second-wicket partnership of 96 after the early loss of Darren Maddy for six.

Ramesh Powar took three wickets as the hosts stumbled to 149 for five before Ravi Bopara (37) and Paul Nixon (39) put the home side in charge.

In the absence of Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Dhoni was captain for the day and he opted to bowl first in overcast conditions.

Pakistan hire Australian rugby trainer

In Karachi, the Pakistan Cricket Board said yesterday that it had recruited a former Australian rugby trainer to the support staff of the national team.

David Dwyer would join fellow Australian Geoff Lawson, who is due to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow as coach, in time for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup, it said.

“We advertised the post for the trainer of the national cricket team and have finalized David Dwyer who is an accomplished name in fitness training in Australia,” PCB director of operations Zakir Khan told AFP.

Lawson replaced Englishman Bob Woolmer who died during Pakistan’s flopped campaign in the 50-over World Cup held in the Caribbean in March.

Khan said Dwyer’s experience will help boost fitness levels — an area the Pakistani cricketers find a particular challenge.

“Dwyer is an experienced professional and was selected after thorough research and we have taken feedback from Lawson as well,” said Khan of Dwyer, who will fly out to Lahore alongside Lawson to join the team next week.

Dwyer will arrive on a two-year contract and will replace South African Murray Stephenson whose contract was not renewed after Pakistan’s first-round exit from the World Cup.

Pakistan will begin a short training camp next week before leaving for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup starting in South Africa from Sept. 11.

On their way they will also feature in a four-nation Twenty20 tune-up event in Kenya where the hosts, Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates are the other competing teams.