UPDATED 11/3/06: (Odhiambo not in team as first published)
Kenya's squad for the upcoming tour to Bangladesh has been announced. Again thanks to cricinfo for the news. Hitesh Modi, recently returned to Kenya for his Grandmother's funeral has been brought back to strengthen the batting, while Martin Suji and Collins Obuya return to bolster the bowling. The players from the Zimbabwe tour to miss out are Brijal Patel and Josephat Ababu, hardly a surprise considering their respective form, and the fact that Ababu is injured. Nehemiah Odhiambo is also being left at home. It is a shame to see Amit Bhudia miss out for a couple of reasons. First, he has a lot of talent, and could prove a useful batsman for Kenya. Second, he is from the Coast and selecting him would show the players from provinces other than Nairobi that they can make it to the national side. He is still young however, so hopefully his time will come.
On the whole though, I like the make up of the team. Martin back to open the bowling will be a huge boost, as will Modi's experience with the bat. Collins was left behind last time as he had not yet found his form. I assume from his selection that he is now back to his former self. If so, this will be a huge bonus for Kenya. Tikolo is a great captain of spin bowling, and knows the Bangladesh conditions well. There is no doubt that this is a stronger team than that sent to Zimbabwe, and gives much greater hope for a decent showing.
Kenya Team To Bangladesh:
STEVE TIKOLO [Capt]
THOMAS ODOYO [Vice Capt.]
MARTIN SUJI
KENNEDY OTIENO
TONY SUJI
TAMNAY MISHRA
COLLINS OBUYA
PETER ONGONDO
ALFRED LUSENO
MAURICE OUMA
KALPESH PATEL
JIMMY KIMANDE
HITSH MODI
DAVID OBUYA
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3 comments:
I cant beleive why Selectors have decided to leave Amit Bhudia out again. When the senior players were on strike a couple of year back, Amit stepped into kenyan Squad and made two fifties in two games, infact if i recall correctly he batted with a broked thumb in one game giving strike to ravindu shah who went on to make 150+ and hence got kenya to the semis of that tournament, and in the semis he was the only Kenyan Batsman to put up a fight and socred about 70 odd. Why he has been dropped shows that selectors are biased to picking players from the coast province. Players like Ababu, kamande, David Obuya have been given chances and have failed, amit was given his chance and suceeded. So why drop him. Could selectors provide some feedback?
It does seem odd that some players are given chance after chance, such as Brijal Patel, whereas others such as Bhudia are not. Kenya have a problem finding an opening partner for Kennedy and filling the no 3 spot - Bhudia would appear to be an ideal candidate for either job. Modi at No 3?
It is a strange decision to leave Amit out of the squad. Hopefully, he will get his chance against Holland - both for the A team, and then in the Intercon match.
Yeah - I would say Modi at 3. so long as it is not Tony again...
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