Monday, April 17, 2006

Kenyan's Lose Places in World Rankings

This should not come as much surprise considering Kenya have not played any matches since the last update was done by the ICC, but Kenyan batsmen are certainly becoming something of a rarity in the top 100list of One Day players. Steve Tikolo is the safest, though he does slip a place to 77 on 423 points. Kennedy Otieno is Kenya's only other representative in the top 100 in 100= position (down 2) with 342 points. Unless there are some surprises in terms of the schedule ahead, he will almost certainly fall off the list next time it is updated. Hitesh Modi, who was Kenya's third representative, has already lost out with 338 points being insufficient to keep him on the list.
Kenya's bowlers are looking better represented with Odoyo actually moving up a place to 55th with 462 points. Peter Ongondo slips a place to 65th on 425, but will no doubt be looking to Kenya's next matches to try to overtake Thomas on the list. Collins Obuya moves down two to 68th on 417 points, resting on the back of his previous form. He will be hoping that a resurgence later in the year will keep him up there when Kenya travel to North America. Steve Tikolo, down 2 to 84 on 382 and Martin Suji, down 3 to 92nd on 358 round out the Kenyan players represented in the list.
As I pointed out before, Kenyans on this list will become rarer in the next couple of months as they are not scheduled to play any ODI games until they play four against Canada and Bermuda in early August. Other than Ongondo, most of the players are in the top 100 due to performances from previous years. As the Test nations blood new players in preparation for the World Cup, our boys will be increasingly under threat. This list alone sees 4 players jump over 30 places after the India-England series. We do however have several more matches in the pipeline for the rest of the year, and the players selected will then have a chance to improve their standings. One player who I expect to make an entry to the batting list in the not too distant future is Tanmay Mishra. Peter Ongondo should also be able to continue his climb and challenge Thomas Odoyo in the bowling. Here's hoping.

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