All Is Not Well In the Kenyan Camp

All sorts of things appear to have gone amiss with the Kenyan training camp yesterday. By far the most serious of these was a player's strike in which the team downed bats and balls after failing to be addressed by Cricket Kenya. Apparently, the address was going to cover renumeration for the players going on the Bangladesh tour. Tom Tikolo, who was supposedly going to speak to the players inexcusably didn't, so they took the afternoon off training. Steve Tikolo, the team captain, apparently declined to disclose details on what the players were unhappy about.

While this was an acceptable, if lamentable, tactic under the Kenyan Cricket Association when they were never paid, this is no longer the case. According to Cricket Kenya Chairman Samir Inamdar, Cricket Kenya has paid the players the money due to them from the Zimbabwe tour, and was yesterday to inform them of what they could expect to be paid from the Bangladesh tour. If this is true, and the players are not owed any money, yesterday's strike was ill considered at best, and sheer idiocy at worst. Cricket in Kenya is going through a very fragile stage at the moment, and has only recently managed to get a sponsor back on board. Players are amoung those who will reap the rewards of sponsorship deals made through Cricket Kenya. Sponsors are hardly likely to be queing up if the team is going to behave like a bunch of spoiled kids. Fair enough, Cricket Kenya should have been there to address them. That Tom Tikolo wasn't could be a symptom of deeper trouble, or it could have been a genuine failure of communication. Lets hope it was the latter. The team are within their rights to be upset that they were not addressed, but the decision to go on strike over this when there are so few training days ahead of the tour is mind boggling. Consider Kenya having a successful tour. If we win or draw, we should qualify for the Champions Trophy. This is potentially a huge money spinner both for Cricket Kenya, and the players involved. Lessening the chances of qualifying through aborting training is cutting off the nose to spite the face. Ultimately, it will be the players who lose out from this, as well as all of the slowly growing number of fans. For the sake of everyone who loves cricket in Kenya, get back to work guys. If you are unhappy about something, go through the proper channels. The World backed you when you were messed around by the KCA, they will not do so if you damage the few gains Kenyan cricket has made since May.