Two wickets in two balls from Andy White gave Ireland a faint hope of victory going into the last day of the final of the Inter-Continental Cup against Kenya in Windhoek. With the Kenyans coasting at 95 for 1, White came on and, in his second over, the Northamptonshire off-spinner had Martin Suji caught behind for 52 and then clean bowled Suji's brother Tony on the very next ball.

Shortly afterwards, in what would be considered perfectly bright conditions in Ireland, the umpires bizarrely offered the Kenyan batsmen the light, which they gratefully accepted, leaving the Irish fielders shaking their arms with eyes looking heavenward. They closed the day on 104 for 3, some 192 runs ahead of the Irish.

Earlier, a sporting declaration by Trent Johnston was supposed to be a challenge to the Kenyans to take the game to Ireland and force an outright victory. But Kenya know that such is the complex points system in this competition a draw will most likely mean that they take the cup back to Nairobi and they will be happy to bat all day today to achieve that dubious victory of sorts.

Kenya are generally regarded as the leading non-Test playing nation and they have strong ambitions to play the five-day version of the game. But the ICC chiefs, who make these decisions, may not be too impressed by a team that wants to play the likes of India or England in Test matches but yet does not have the confidence to take on the likes of Ireland over three days here. Even if Kenya do lift this Inter-Continental Cup by drawing with Ireland, the manner in which they do it will not have impressed many.

That said, Ireland do still have an outside chance of beating them. If they can roll them over during the day, they will certainly have a real go at whatever target they are set. Trouble is, of course, that this is a dream track for batting on and Kenya will not give away their wickets easily.

Apart from Johnston's imaginative declaration, Ireland's position was strengthened yesterday through some fine batting, most notably from Niall O'Brien and Andre Botha. The pair put on 165 for the fourth wicket in a partnership of positive, skilful batting. Botha eventually fell just before the declaration for 78, leaving O'Brien unbeaten on 106, his second century in successive matches.