Kenya To Play New Zealand and South Africa 2008

Yesterday saw the release of the ICC's Future Tours Program which puts in place the tour schedule between now and April 2009. According to the program, Kenya are scheduled to play a tri-series in South Africa against the hosts and Scotland in May of 2008, and a tri series in Scotland a month later when New Zealand visit after their tour of England. While this is good news in that it locks in matches against two more of the Test sides, it does leave Kenya as the only one of the top 6 Associates that does not have a match against a Test nation in 2007 (barring the World Cup of course).

So far Cricket Kenya have aquitted themselves well in terms of getting matches against teams such as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but it is worrying that more assistance is not forthcoming from the ICC. There are plenty of tours that include 5 or 7 match series that could easily be played as tri-series instead featuring the two Test teams and an Associate. Cricket Kenya will need to do some serious lobbying to make sure we are not left out in the cold for another year. Much will obviously depend on Kenya's performance on the pitch over the next 12 months. If we can show we are still competetive, and have a good World Cup, we may well be invited to be part of future series. Again this is something Cricket Kenya need to work towards. The more cricket our players get against other teams - be it full ODI's or matches against other Associates, the better. Domestically too, things need to happen. For all players to get a fair chance at selection, and for the domestic standard to improve, a National competition of some sort needs to be set up soon. It is difficult to tell at the moment how close this is to happening, there having been no word so far from either the National or Provincial bodies on the matter.