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A dogged unbeaten century from David Hemp was in vain as classy Kenya cruised to a seven-wicket win over Bermuda today.

With fast bowler George O'Brien watching from the sidelines on crutches - his tournament over - Bermuda's makeshift seam attack was taken apart by the Africans, who knocked off their 260 victory target with five overs to spare.

Now Bermuda must beat the Netherlands on Wednesday and hope that UAE can do them a favour and win against Afghanistan.

That would leave the team's level on four points each meaning Gus Logie's men would progress because of their superior run rate.

Any other combination of results and Bermuda will be knocked out, losing their one-day-international status.

It was a much-improved performance from Bermuda with the bat today as Hemp, reveling in his new anchor man role, batted through the innings for the second game in succession.

Assisted by an attacking cameo from Stephen Outerbridge, who gave the innings an adrenaline shot with a quickfire 31, and some late order hitting from Glenn Blakeney and Irving Romaine, Hemp guided Bermuda to what looked like a competitive total of 259 for 5.

After the game the vice captain, who also made 76 not out against Denmark on Saturday, insisted: "Individually I'm pleased but that pales into insignificance when you end up losing the game."

Hemp said Bermuda had been pleased to put 259 on the board. But with the wicket getting better and better to bat on as the day went on, Kenya made light work of that target.

Stylish opener Maurice Ouma laid into Jacobi Robinson and Janeiro Tucker, blasting a half-century off just 40 balls.

Robinson took the brunt of the punishment, finishing with figures of 0 for 65 from his eight overs.

In truth this was a game that Bermuda had never marked down as one they could rely on to win. The Kenyans - World Cup semi-finalists in 2003 - are a fully professional outfit and have never lost to Gus Logie's team.

They looked the part today - running well between the wickets, dispatching any loose bowling to the boundary and picking off the spinners with aplomb.

Experienced skipper Steve Tikolo, a veteran of 100 ODIs, barely broke sweat as he closed out the innings with an accomplished 60 not out. The muscular back-foot drive which brought up his half-century was only his second boundary of the day - testimony to how well the Kenyans picked off the ones and twos.

Ouma, who was eventually bowled by Tamauri Tucker for 60, and fellow opener Kennedy Obuya, who made 63 before being trapped lbw by Rodney Trott, set up the win with a 98 opening stand in just 19 overs.

Without O'Brien, Bermuda only had one recognized seamer in the attack and they were able to take advantage of the field restrictions to get off to an electric start.

Bermuda, by comparison, took 29 overs to bring up the century opening stand.

Fiqre Crockwell (45) and Hemp, perhaps with last week's collapses in mind, played watchfully nudging Bermuda to 107 before Crockwell fell, caught at point in the 32nd over.

Outerbridge's knock of 31 from 20 balls provided the impetus for Bermuda to crack on to 259, including 94 runs from the final ten overs.

In the context of recent results it was a very good total. But after watching the Kenyans cruise to victory coach Gus Logie reflected that it was not quite enough.

"It was a good opening stand. Credit to David Hemp for batting through the innings. That's exactly what we wanted him to do.

"The run rate was pretty slow but that was our tactic. We needed the guys down the back to step up and not everybody did that today.

"It was tailor made for Lionel Cann or Janeiro Tucker - the guys who can really clear the ropes - to push us to 290, 300, which could have been more competitive."

Logie confirmed that O'Brien is out for the rest of the tournament with the knee injury he picked up against Denmark.

The main selection headache now ahead of Wednesday's game with the Netherlands is whether or not to persist with three spinners and a part-time seamer like Janeiro Tucker opening the bowling or to bring in Kyle Hodsoll or Stefan Kelly, who was dropped on Saturday after a wayward start.

Of that game, Logie said: "We have to win. We have to do our bit and hope that UAE can do us a favour.

"We put ourselves on the back foot with those results last week and now we are relying on other results. That's the situation we're in and we only have ourselves to blame."

[[In-content Ad]]Bermuda 259-5, 50 overs (David Hemp 102 not out, Fiqre Crockwell 45, Stephen Outerbridge 31, Glenn Blakeney 30)

Kenya 260-3, 45 overs (Kennedy Obuya 63, Steve Tikolo 60 not out, Morris Ouma 57, Collins Obuya 43 not out)

Kenya won by seven wickets

Man of the match: David Hemp

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