Time For Cricket Kenya To Act As Kenya A Lose Again

Kenya A's nightmare tour of Denmark continues. Another match against a club side, and another poor batting performance leads to a defeat. This is really becoming quite a concern for Kenya, especially as no player is stepping up to fill the batting spots ahead of the Bangladesh series.

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Kenya A batted first against Glostrup CC yesterday and were all out for 141 in 40 overs. Yet again, we not only failed to get a decent score, but also failed to bat out our overs. In reply, Kenya A only managed to take 4 wickets as Glostrup sailed past the total to win by six wickets. It has been a tough tour for the youngsters, and it is certainly not all their fault, but something needs to be done very soon to improve the depth of Kenyan cricket.

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It must be made Cricket Kenya's top priority to introduce a national competition in the longer version of the game. Kenya cannot afford to continue losing ground to the other Associates, and the longer we go without a meaningful national competition, the more this happens. We can easily rectify this by giving our top 60 or so players the conditions in which to best improve their game. It is imperative our young players learn how to build an innings; how to graft runs out when in trouble. Likewise our bowlers need to learn how to make wickets happen, rather than waiting for the batsmen to make the mistake.

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Once a national league has been set up, Cricket Kenya need to follow this up with a vigourous youth policy to increase the player base. I see the priorities in this order as we need to look at improving our current players before we look at bringing on new ones. A fantastic youth program will do no good unless there is something for them to move up to and there exists a way to continue improving their game.

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Cricket Kenya have been doing great work in getting matches for the national and A teams, in terms of looking for sponsors and in arranging tournaments. This will help, and their good work must be recognised. However, it is getting beyond time for something to happen on the domestic scene. This must be assisted by the provincial bodies. After all, they were among the ones who elected the current office bearers and gave them their mandate to rescue the game.

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Not so long ago Kenya were considered the top Associate. As much as it hurts to say, we can no longer claim this. No matter where the blame lies, we must do all we can to get this position back. It does not start with matches against other teams, though this is a part of it. It starts within our own back yard, and it must start now.