Kenya captain, Steve Tikolo is the one person standing between Kenya and the enforced follow on. Thomas Odoyo, his batting partner when play finally resumed, is out bowled by Dutch hero Ryan ten Doeschate for 17. Odoyo lasted 75 balls with Tikolo to help the score to 185; a valuable 60 run partnership, but the next man in, debutant Ashish Karia only managed 15 balls before being caught by van Troost of the bowling of van Bunge for a duck. With only Ongondo and Bhudia to come, and maybe Modi if he can manage, it seems that despite Tikolo's resistance, Kenya are heading towards the follow on.
Several things have been frustrating about this Kenyan innings. Not only did Holland make it look so easy in their innings on exactly the same pitch, but several Kenyan batsmen have made starts, then got out. Patel, Mishra, Obuya and Odoyo all spent a an hour or so at the crease, and should have played themselves in by that time. Tikolo has needed someone to hole up at the other end if nothing more, and no one so far has managed it. If nothing else, this match highlights the pressing need for a domestic 4-day tournament to be set up, so that the Kenyan players can learn how to build an innings, and to look for wickets when bowling. On paper, Kenya should have won this match hands down. That we are being made to fight just to avoid the follow on is a sad indictment on how far the game has fallen behind our rivals in the past two years. Steve Tikolo stands alone as an example of what can be achieved on this pitch and against this bowling. He has reached his century, and is the sole reason this match is not already over. He may have made some questionable decisions regards bowling changes, but his class as a batsman remains undisputed. It will be a hell of a long time before Kenya can do without him.
This innings is admitedly not yet over, but with only two bowlers left to support the captain, plus the walking wounded, it may not be too long before Luuk van Troost is telling us to 'have another go chaps, and this time, make it a decent one"...
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2 comments:
Hi Qayam,
It would be hard, but one way would be to have 4 day matches played over consecutive wekends. It has been done elsewhere,and keeps the principle of the game being that the batsmen learn to build, and bowlers to pursue wickets. I will be posting a more complete set of ideas on this in a couple of days after this match.
Drop me an email with any ideas...
Having a four day competition would be brilliant. And yes i do remember the days when we used to have 80 over games. However this format was only used for one season before being scrapped. I also remember a certain Qayam Kassamali playing for Nairobi Jafferys against his boyhood club(Mombasa Jafferys). Got quite a bit of stick didnt u?
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