FAST bowler Hamish Bennett grabbed four wickets in a sensational opening spell as New Zealand skittled out Kenya for 69 en route a 10-wicket win in just 8 overs in a World Cup Group A match yesterday.
Bennett finished with 4-16, his best figures in nine one-day internationals, while Tim Southee and Jacob Oram took three wickets each to derail the minnows in the day game at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
NZ openers Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum needed just eight overs to reach 72 to complete the win, making this one of the shortest matches in World Cup history. It gave Daniel Vettori’s men a much-needed winning start after their long losing streak leading to the tournament.
The decision to bat first backfired for Kenya as half of the side was cooling its heels in the pavilion by the 16th over.
New-ball bowler Southee started the rot by dismissing opener Alex Obanda in the seventh over before first-change Bennett got into the act by removing promising youngster Seren Waters (16) in his second over.
Bennett, a replacement for the more experienced but injured Kyle Mills, had Kenya in deep trouble when he sent back veteran Steve Tikolo (two) and Collins Obuya (14) off the second and fifth deliveries in his next over.
Tikolo lost his off-stump to a peach of a delivery and Obuya was struck plumb in front of the wicket, leaving Kenya in deep rut at 44-4. Kenya asked for a review of Obuya’s decision, only to be disappointed as replays showed the ball would have hit the middle stump.
Former captain Maurice Ouma became the fourth victim of the 23-year-old Bennett, trapped leg before for one.
Oram joined the bowlers’ party, accounting for captain Jimmy Kamande, Thomas Odoyo and Elijah Otieno in three overs.
Southee was on a hat-trick when he removed Nehemiah Odhiambo and Shem Ngoche with the last two balls of his sixth over.
But there was no second international hat-trick for him, with Otieno flicking Oram straight to midwicket shortly afterwards to end the misery for Kenya.
Kenya, semi-finalists of the 2003 edition, showed little application in their batting with just three batsmen managing to reach double figures.

KENYA (maximum 50 overs)
A. Obanda lbw b Southee 6
S. Waters lbw b Bennett 16
C. Obuya lbw b Bennett 14
S. Tikolo b Bennett 2
+M. Ouma lbw b Bennett 1
R. Patel not out 15
*J. Kamande c wkpr B. McCullum b Oram 3
T. Odoyo c Ryder b Oram 2
N. Odhiambo b Southee 0
S. Ngoche lbw b Southee 0
E. Otieno c Styris b Oram 0
Extras (b4, lb3, w2, nb1) 10
TOTAL (all out, 23.5 overs) 69
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-40, 3-42, 4-44, 5-49, 6-59, 7-63, 8-68, 9-68
Bowling: Southee 6-0-13-3 (nb1); N. McCullum 4-0-15-0 (w1); Bennett 5-0-16-4 (w1); *Vettori 6-1-16-0; Oram 2.5-1-2-3

NEW ZEALAND (target: 70 off 50 overs)
M. Guptill not out 39
+B. McCullum not out 26
Extras (b2, lb1, w3, nb1) 7
TOTAL (without loss, 8 overs) 72
J. Ryder, R. Taylor, J. Franklin, S. Styris, *D. Vettori, N. McCullum, J. Oram, T. Southee, H. Bennett did not bat
Bowling: Odoyo 3-0-25-0 (w1); E. Otieno 2-0-18-0; *Kamande 2-0-21-0 (w1); Odhiambo 1-0-5-0 (nb1, w1)
Points: New Zealand 2, Kenya 0