Crunch Time For Selection

Cricket Kenya's selection sub-committee meets today to decide the final squad to tour Zimbabwe. It will be very interesting to see whom the selectors decide to take. According to reports in the Nation, some of the short-listed players from overseas have only just turned up for training, and there are a couple who have not been heard from, or who are injured. Two of the most notable absentees are Ravindu Shah, still suffering from his injury, and Hitesh Modi who is thought to be in England and has not been heard from. Mohammed Sheikh has also declared himself unavailable. With Ravindu out, the most likely opening partner to Kennedy Otieno Obuya is Maurice Ouma who, in Shah's absence over the last year, has shown he can handle the position, though he does need to convert his starts to big scores. Ouma has however only recently joined the squad from his club in South Africa, and recent form in the NPCA limited overs competition would give strong backing to 19 year old Tanmay Mishra as an alternative should the selectors decide Ouma is better suited down the order. Other batsmen who will probably get the nod are Steve Tikolo, Kenya's captain and lynchpin, and Charles Obuya who has shown his talent on the domestic scene over the last year. It is hard to see Martin Suji or Thomas Odoyo being left out of Kenya's bowling attack, but the rest of the bowlers are difficult to pick. Has Collins Obuya regained his form? If so, the experience he gained under Terry Jenner could give Kenya a very useful spin option to complement Tikolo, plus he has some experience. Alfred Luseno is a likely choice due to his speed. Andy Moles, who coached him at the training camp in South Africa, is of the opinion that he has the pace to regularly dismiss batsmen from Test nations. Kenya will need him to do this if we are to be competitive. That is about as far as I can predict with the little I know about the rest, and how they have fared so far in training. There should be around fifteen spots up for grabs, so there are plenty of places still unaccounted for. Looking at the make up of the provisional squad, I would not be surprised to see a few unfamiliar faces being given the chance to make their mark. If I had to choose the team myself, it would comprise:
Steve Tikolo (c), Kennedy Obuya (wk), Maurice Ouma, Tanmay Mishra, Charles Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Collins Obuya, Alfred Luseno, Martin Suji, Rajesh Bhudia, Ragab Aga, Malher Patel, Josephat Ababu, Ashish Karia, Amit Bhudia.