NAIROBI - Shane Watson saved Australia from the most humiliating defeat in its long cricket history but struggled to give himself a pass mark for his effort.

The world champion side was on the verge of losing to Kenya - a non-Test nation which hardly ever plays at international level - before Watson came to the rescue with a couple of lusty blows in the penultimate over.

With Australia needing 19 to win off 12 balls, Watson hit a a four and a six, saw off a no-ball and then took a single before Brett Lee hit another six to tie the scores with six balls left.

Watson then hit the winning runs as Australia reached 5-205 to win by five wickets with five balls to spare.

Acting Australian captain Adam Gilchrist said he almost had to cheer up Watson afterwards.

"He's pretty hard on himself," Gilchrist explained.

"He thinks he could have done things a little bit better or a little bit differently but I've said to him 'At the end of the day you've won a game for us mate - not many people get a chance to do that for their country'."

Watson almost grudgingly accepted the kudos after making 77 not out off 114 balls.

It was his first half-century in 11 games for Australia, coming off 81 balls, but he blamed himself for not scoring at a better rate on a difficult deck.

"I had to make sure I got us home because I got us into trouble," Watson said.

"Obviously it's good to win a game for your country but I wasn't very happy with the way I hit the ball - I hit the ball to the fielders a lot."

However, Watson was never too worried the game was out of Australia's reach even though six runs an over were needed for the last 16 overs.

"I never thought it would get away from us, I knew all we needed was a couple of boundaries to get us back level. I was never worried."

Watson went in at No.4 as Australia kept back Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn in an effort to test the mettle of the lower order.

Never at any stage, did he hope Hayden would step through the gate and onto the field to join him.

"We've got good enough players to get ourselves out of a tough situation," Watson said.

"Brett Lee's a good striker of the ball and so is Shane Warne so I never thought at any time it would be good to have a specialist batsman out there."

He said the experience would do him the world of good further down the line.

"Even though I didn't hit them that well it's good to put myself into that position because I know that, hopefully, at the World Cup, in the semifinals or something like that, I'll be able to handle myself under pressure."

Gilchrist agreed, saying it was strong effort from a player who has been touted as the answer to the hard-to-fill all-rounder's spot.

"It's another step in his climb up the ladder towards cementing a spot," Gilchrist said.

"He'll get a lot from this."

© 2002 AAP

This report does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Cricket Board.