According to the Nation who have been speaking to Samir Inamdar, Kenya has been made the Regional Centre for East and Central Africa by the Africa Cricket Association during the meeting in South Africa over the weekend. As a result of this, Kenya will be hosting an U15 event which will bring together teams from the region. No dates are mentioned in the article, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. While Kenya was the obvious choice for this position, it does make official our responsibility to the other countries in the region. Aside from the moral obligations, it makes sense for Kenya to try to lift the standards of our neighbours. They will be the cheapest places for development teams to tour, and the higher their standards, the better it will help the Kenyan players who play against them.
Inamdar has also told the Nation that the Africa Cup will be held in South Africa in December. Teams that will take part are South Africa 'A', Zimbabwe 'A', Kenya, Uganda and Namibia. Nothing is mentioned about the format of this competition, but it will certainly give Kenya a good warm up before hosting Scotland in January. There is also the definite possibility of Kenya winning this event, which would be a great boost before the ICC World League, also in January.
Great to see some coverage of cricket by the Nation, who also made note of Kenya being given the U19 WC in yesterday's paper. Today's article also notes the Jenner Clinic and the possibility of Bangladesh touring. WE knew that anyway, but at least they are now giving cricket a bit more attention. It would be really nice if they could now focus a bit more on the domestic scene...
Posts
2 comments:
The Africa Cup was briefly mentioned in a cricinfo article a while back. If memory serves me correctly, as well as the teams you mentioned, there will be one qualifier from the African Division One World Cup qualifiers.
It should be a good tournament, but I would much prefer the South African and Zimbabwe first teams to be involved, to make it a proper African Championships, along the lines of the Asia Cup.
In fact, now each region (with the exception of EAP) has atleast 3 ODI status teams, I wouldn't mind seeing more regional championships, perhaps as a future replacement for the ICC Champions Trophy.
I think you are right about that Div 1 team - it does ring a bell. It would certainly make sense.
A agree with you about Zimbabwe rather than Zim 'A', but I think a full South Africa side would be too strong. Possibly in a couple of years time this could be looked at as the Associates improve.
Further to the increase of this as a format, it could definitely be used as a precursor to the Champions Trophy with the winner from each region going through to play in a much smaller tournament.
Post a Comment