New Talent

Following 20-year old Khashif Rashid's efforts with the bat for Sir Ali 'B' against Jaffery's last weekend, comes the news that another Kenyan youngster is showing great potential in England. Seren Waters, son of National selector and Kongoni's co-ordinator and player David Waters, has set Surrey alight with his performances for their Under 16 and Under 17 teams. According to this report on cricinfo, Waters made 206* for Surrey U16s against Essex, and as a result was promoted to the U17s. He responded by making 139, then capped it off by leading Old Cranleighans to victory in the Brewers cup with 129.

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In a time when Kenya's batsmen have been struggling at the senior level, these big scores from youngsters are heartening news. Whatever level cricket is being played, making a century, or double century requires talent and concentration. To make three in a row like Waters, requires a great deal of both. If we can hold on to players that show this sort of form so young, the future may be brighter than most of us have felt over the last few weeks.

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Rashid, despite playing in the 3rd Division of the local league will certainly have made the national selectors take note. At a time when players are being considered to make the trip to South Africa for the Winter Training Camp, this is a timely knock. It is worth noting that the only two other players to have achieved this milestone in local cricket have been the two regarded by most as Kenya's best players over the last ten years. Steve Tikolo and Ravindu Shah have both made 200, but not at such a young age as Rashid. It will be interesting to see if he is promoted to the A team for Sir Ali's next match, they certainly could have done with his help last week.

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Waters, despite his youth, may also have to be considered for the training camp. England have a nasty habit of poaching promising youngsters from the Associate nations, and this must not be allowed to happen here. For one, it would be a great loss of talent, but it would also pose some difficult questions to Seren's father as a Kenyan selector. I do not know who the selectors are considering sending to the training camp, or for the upcoming series against Uganda and Bermuda, but they will find it hard to ignore upcoming talent after the recent performances of some of the senior players. Going into a World Cup year in which the Intercontinental Cup will also be expanded to a round-robin tournament, it is vital that we can start to bring through players that can produce the goods when needed.

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I am not advocating that we rush players like Waters and Rashid straight into the national team, but they need to be recognised and brought into the feeder system where they will get a chance to play with the national squad players in training. If they then have it what it takes, maybe they can then be given a chance either through the A team, or even the senior team. After all, Alex Kervezee is hardly any older than Waters and has already proven a great find for Dutch cricket.

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This weekend will see league cricket in all three main centres in Kenya and more youngsters will have the opportunity to make their mark with both bat and ball. For those that do, it is imperative that Cricket Kenya are soon able to provide a national competition where they can prove themselves against the established players. Until they do, we may continue to see the best players sitting on the sidelines as the national team persists with already unsuccessful experiments.

NPCA Rsults Week 3

After much frustration, here are the results for Week 3 of the NPCA competition:

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SUPER DIVISION:

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Kanbis Sports Club 'A' vs. Swamibapa Cricket Club 'A' at Eastleigh Sec Sch.

Featuring last season's top two teams, this was always going to be one of the major games in terms of determining the minor premiers. Swamibapa batted first, but thanks to the continued fine form of Thomas Odoyo (4/23), they never looked comfortable. Vijay Kalyan contributed 2/10 in Kanbis restricting Steve Tikolo's side to a mere 77 runs. It was the Tikolo brothers, David (24) and Steve (14) who top scored for Swamis, but a poor effort with the bat by them considering the players at their disposal. Kanbis didn't have it all their own way in the reply however, as one again the bowlers were able to cause some worry. Joseph Angara the pick with 2/15, and Nehemiah Odhiambo taking 2/44. Kanbis steadied, and though the top scorers only made 26 (Arvind Halai) and 25 (Jadavji Jeshani), they still managed to ease to a 5 wicket victory.

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Sir Ali Muslim Club 'A' vs. Nbi Gymkhana Sports Club 'A' at Sir Ali Muslim Club.

The other match in the top division saw Sir Ali bowl first against a confident Nairobi Gymkhana. Rakep Patel (80) and Shashank (57) lead the way with half centuries as the visitors posted 262 for 8 Wkts. Shahnawaz (2/36) and Abdul (1/29) the pick of an otherwise lacklustre bowling effort. Gymkhana by comparison bowled well, with Intercontinental Cup hero Hiren Varaiya leading the way with his 4/28. Darsheet Shah (3/38) also did his claims for selection no harm at all with his effort. Top scorers for Sir Ali were Tariq Alvi (33) and Shiraz Syed (23), but the team could only manage 124 All Out and Gymkhana went on to win by 138 runs.

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DIVISION I:

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Ngara Sports Club vs. Shree Cutchi Leva Youth League at Ngara S.C:

Once again it was the Patel partnership of Nikul Patel (4/35) and Harshid Patel (2/6) that lead the way for Ngara as they dismissed the visitors for 91. Only Dilip Kerai (27) and Ritesh Pindolia (12) bothered the scorers, but it was never going to be enough. SCLYL's bowlers, Mahendra Bhudia (3/29) and Naran Jagani (1/13) put in a valiant effort, but it was not sufficient to stop Jagrat Patel (30) and Jai Solanki (23*) steering Ngara to a comfortable 6 wicket win.

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Swamibapa Cricket Club 'B' vs. Kongonis Cricket Club 'B' at Pindolia Academy:

With Kongonis batting first, Mukesh Hirani (5/28) must have thought he had done enough to give Swamibapa the win. Stubborn resistance from Richard Collins (45) and Matthew Rudd (44) however meant Kongonis were able to reach a fairly modest, but defendable 183 All Out. Prakash Pindoria (1/15) the next best bowler for Swamibapa. Perhaps the best illustration of how the run chase went was the fact that he was also the second best with the bat for them, scoring 9. Snehal Jesani top scored with 28, but it was Kongoni's day as Jasraj Warah (3/29) and the experienced David Waters (2/25) helped restrict them to
158 All Out, giving Kongonis an important 25 run victory. Not a good day at the office for Swamis!

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Premier Club vs. Kanbis Sports Club 'B' at Premier Club:

Swamibapa may have had a bad day, but Kanbis were on a roll. Premier batted first, and the home fans would have been bouyed by the efforts of Sanjiv Patel (52) and Snehal Patel (47). The rest of the team however only contributed a further 81 between them as Ramesh (3/31) and Pravin Jesani (3/43) kept them down to 180 all out. Kanbis' reply never looked in doubt, and though Brijan Patel (2/14) and Mitul Patel (1/35) took a couple of wickets, the afternoon belonged to Dharmesh Mepani. His 90 backed up by 28 from all rounder Ramesh Pindoria, meant that the visitors were always going to be in control and Kanbis waltzed home to a 7 wicket win.

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Ruaraka Sports Club 'A' versus Parklands Sports Club - Rhinos at Ruaraka S.C:

Jimmy Kamande may have struggled against Bangladesh with the bat, but Parklands will be happy they signed him as he took 3/30 with the ball as Ruaraka were reduced to 167 all out. Hitesh Purohit gave support with 2/18. Ruaraka's top batsmen were Amit Shukla (38) and Rikesh Gohil (34). Rhinos went after the total with purpose and despite Hitesh Gohil's 4/49, reached the target with ease. Arun Balarama (50*) and Anand Ghore (46) the stars with the bat. Parklands Rhinos win by 6 wickets.

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DIVISION II:

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Nairobi Nookers Cricket Club vs. Aga Khan Sports Center 'B' at Nairobi School:

Again, it was a player that failed against Bangladesh that starred in this match as Kennedy Obuya proved he still has it, at this level at least, with 64 as Nookers set a total of 209 all out. Amit the next best batsman just missing out on his half century with 47. Mohsin Ali impressed with his figures of 5/21 and recieved solid support from Nooramin Ismail (2/8). Karim Pradhan (41) and Mohsin Ali (31) were the pick of Aga Khan's reply, but 3 wickets a piece for
Moin Ali )3/35) and David (Obuya??? - my guess) (3/26), meant that Nookers were able to hold on for a tense 25 run win.

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Nbi Institute vs. Nbi Gymkhana Sports Club 'B' at Nbi Institute:

It certainly seems to have been a bowler's day in Nairobi last weekend. Institute batted first and were bowled out for 173 with Kirit (3/24) and Shoeb (2/18) taking the honours. Nairobi Institute scored most of their runs through Khuzema (23) and Abhijeet (19), but it was their bowler, Saleem Cockar who really swung the balance of the match. He took 5/32 and aided by 3/22 from Ritesh meant that Institute were able to hold on to win by an unexpected 86 runs. Only 2 Gymkhana batsmen made it to double figures,
Vikas (22) and Shoeb (10).

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The other match scheduled to take place in Div II, Simba Union Sports Club versus Stray Lions Crcket Club 'A' was postponed.

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DIVISION III:

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Parklands Ndovu vs. Golden XI Parklands S.C:

Again, it was the bowlers who took the limelight in this match. Batting first, Golden XI were restricted to 150 all out, despite a half century from Mitesh (55) and 25 from Viral. Both Ravilal Manji (5/22) and Neel Shah (2/25) would be happy with their effort with the ball for Ndovus. Not to be out done, the Golden XI bowlers also put in fantastic efforts and were rewarded as Rushab (5/29) and Amit M (2/13) did the job in restricting Parklands to 103 all out. Shikul Shah (16) and Hemant Bhatt (15) the best batsmen, but no way near good enough to prevent Golden XI going home with a 47 run Victory.

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Nbi Jaffery Sports Club 'B' vs. Sir Ali Muslim Club 'B' at Nbi Jaffery S.C:

Elsewhere, it may have been a bowler's day, but no one thought to mention this to Khashif Rashid. The following is the match report sent to me from one of the players, and I will let it tell the story:

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History of sorts was created this Sunday at Nairobi Jaffery's ground. Sir Ali's captain won the toss and elected to bat on a badly prepared wicket. Asif Ali and Akbar Ganatra opened the batting for Sir Ali. As has happened in the past few matches, SAMC lost an early wicket when Asif Ali mistimed a pull and it went straight into the hands of square leg. In came Khashif Rashid, a Kenya Cricket Academy player (the academy is no longer running) and thats when the runs started flowing. Sir Ali lost another cheap wicket when Akbar was out for a slow 12 in the 12th over. By now Khashif was beginning to see the ball with much ease and he reached his fifty with a six. Asif Khan was more than happy to give Khashif a stand and he did so with Khashif reaching his hundred with a four in the 24th over. Asif was finally out, slashing at a legspin delivery and getting caught at point for a well made 44. In came Tawfiq Rafiq and he took some of the pressure off Khashif by punishing the Jafferys bowling attack. Khashif reached his 150 off a six and by then it was beginning to look like he would score a double century, the first by a Sir Ali player. He didn't disappoint, reaching the milestone in the last over of the innings with his sixth six. Tawfiq had got out earlier on 54. Khashif scored 21 fours as well as his 6 sixes. Sir Ali finished on 371 for 4, their highest ever total. Captain Nadeem Butt must have been celebrating his decision to bat first. Sir Ali were given an extra 30 runs for a slow over rate by the Jaffries bowlers, so the target of 402 looked far out of reach for the Jaffries batsmen who looked more keen to play out the 50 overs than to chase the score. Jibran took 3 wickets, Danish and Nadeem also did the same with Hardeek taking the final wicket. Sir Ali won by 191 runs and get the full 20 points.

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Saqib Khan (64) and Mujtabah (34) were the top scorers for Jafferys, but there seems to be no stopping the rampant Sir Ali B. The way they are going, they are not only looking at promotion, but will be worrying the teams in Division II as well.

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Results from the final match in Div III were not submitted, so not sure who won between Stray Lions 'B' and Ruaraka Sports Club 'B' at Highridge Pr Sch.

Kenyan Umpires to Officiate WCL Africa Div 2

With all the recent furore about umpires in the press recently, it is nice that for Kenya at least, today's news is of a positive nature. Our top 5 umpires flew out to Dares Salaam yesterday to officiate in the Africa Div 2 leg of the ICC's World Cricket League. Lead by Subhash Modi, who is a member of the Associate Umpires Panel and who will be the tournament's match referee, the other umpires representing Kenya will be Narendra Dave, David Odhiambo, Kutub Gulamabbas and Rockie Demello.

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This is a great honour for Kenya as the event is of no small importance. Played over 5 days in a round robin format, the winner of the league will progress to the WCL Division 3 to be played in Los Angeles early next year. Hosted by the Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) in conjunction with the ICC's Africa office, the tournament brings together four associates, namely Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia and Nigeria, and Mozambique, the affiliate winner of the recent tournament in Benoni.

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Best wishes to the umpires for the next five days. We hope they will make all the right decisions, and I'm sure they will do Kenya proud.

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I will be posting a brief preview of the tournament over at Beyond The Boundary and the ICC have indicated in their press release that they will release scores from all games will be published daily on the Africa page of their Development site during the tournament.

MSC Given Nod For ODI Status

Yesterday, the ICC approved Kenya's oldest cricket club, Mombasa Sports Club as Kenya's newest ODI venue. This is a huge step forward for Kenya in terms of growing the game at the coast, and another small step back in the direction of Test cricket. While the latter remains a long way away still, this development fulfils one of the outstanding criteria needed and as such takes us just that little bit closer. Following is the media release from Cricket Kenya:

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CRICKET KENYA PRESS RELEASE

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Mombasa Sports Club Cricket Ground gets ODI status:

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The Mombasa Sports Club’s cricket ground has been granted official One Day International (ODI) status by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following an inspection made by ICC Match Referee, Mike Procter, in June 2006.

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This is an immense achievement not only for the club but also for cricket in Mombasa and the game as a whole in Kenya. It is also an important step towards the country ultimately gaining Test Status, one of the key requirements of which is for a country to have accredited venues in at least two separate centres. Until this accreditation, only Nairobi had accredited cricket venues.

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Mike Procter, who scored over 20,000 runs in his First Class career from 1965 to 1989, played 7 Tests for South Africa and was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970, had this to say about the MSC ground in his report to the ICC:-
"The ground in Mombasa is lovely. Since the last inspection in 2000 the playing area has been extended and now meets the minimum requirements as laid down by ICC. The tree which is situated a couple of meters in from the boundary adds to the character of the field."

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Mombasa Sports Club, which was founded in 1896, has had an enormous part to play in the history of cricket in Kenya. The first ever organised cricket match played in the East and Central African region between visiting seamen from HMS Sparrow and a Mombasa XI was played at this club as long ago as 1896. The scorecard for that match is treasured by the club to this day. Over the years MSC has hosted several first class fixtures involving teams from across the world including, more recently, the full national sides of Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh.

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Following the ICC’s first inspection in 2000, Mombasa Sports Club increased the size of the playing area making it compliant with the minimum requirements for boundary sizes. If there was any hesitation over the mango tree inside the boundary having to be removed, Mr. Clive Hitchcock, the ICC Cricket Operations Manager was forthright in his official notification to Cricket Kenya stating:-
"Mike was very impressed by this venue and it was by far the best ground he visited. The tree inside the boundary is not a problem as obstacles are covered under Law 19.1 (c)."

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Samir Inamdar, the Cricket Kenya chairman, was delighted with the news that his own home club had at last received international recognition:-
"I am particularly pleased with the approval of Mombasa Sports Club as an ODI venue and I thank the management and staff of the club for their hard work and support in ensuring that the ground and the facilities were in pristine condition when inspected. This is a tremendous boost for cricket in Mombasa and a source of great pride to Cricket Kenya. I look forward to the MSC hosting its first ODI in the near future."

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A great success indeed for Samir and Cricket Kenya. Hopefully this now means that at least one of the matches against Bermuda in November will be played at the venue. Coast cricket has reportedly been struggling for numbers this season, so this will be a welcome boost to increase the game's popularity in the region. Next on the list, a venue in Rift Valley of Kisumu?

Ramifications, Reflections and Recoupment

Contrary to popular belief, I have not been refusing to post due to sulking over the results of the Bangladesh series. Well, I was sulking, but that has not been the reason for my silence. I had to take a few days away to go to a mate's wedding, and was unable to get access to the net while I was there. In a way, it was not such a bad thing as it meant that the vitriol that I had boiling away has been replaced with a more balanced view on where Kenyan cricket goes from here. A brief recap over the last month or so shows mixed results from the A team against Uganda and Denmark being followed by the National side's loss to Canada to put us out of contention for the Intercontinental Cup. We then bounced back with two big ODI wins against them before returning home where we were soundly beaten by Bangladesh 3-0.

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When looked at like that, there seems little to be cheerful about and plenty to worry about. However, I am not a great believer in despondency, so this is what I see we can take from it all, and what we need to do to get things back on track.

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Our young players have on the whole stepped up well and in many cases have out performed their senior team mates. Tanmay Mishra continues to show promise with the bat, as does Collins Obuya. Thomas Odoyo seems to be getting back to his best, indeed bettering his personal best with the bat in that great innings in the second ODI against Bangladesh. Both himself and Peter Ongondo performed well with the new ball, and had the batsmen given the bowlers more to bowl at, they may have done even better. Nehemiah Odhiambo seems to have answered the question as to who should come in at first change and Hiren Varaiya proved he had what it takes in the spin department. Why he was not included against Bangladesh, only the selectors know. On the whole, the bowling has been good and all the bowlers used with success (other than Tikolo) have plenty of years in the bank.

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Batting remains our weak link, especially the opener's spots. None of the players tried so far this year have instilled much confidence, though Maurice Ouma at least showed signs of improvement in the last series. There is still a huge mountain to climb here however and the administration need to take steps to rectify the situation.

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So far, despite great work in getting matches for the national team and in arranging TV coverage and sponsors, few gains have been made in terms of the domestic scene. The NPCA have a slightly expanded competition and Rift Valley certainly seem to be moving in the right direction. At the coast however, it seems like player numbers have dropped, and this is a real worry. Kisumu, also a potential centre for expansion also seems to be very quiet, though there is word out that a 7-a-side competition will be held there in September.

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Make no mistake, Kenya needs all the international competition it can get and Cricket Kenya have so far out-performed the other Associate bodies in arranging matches. However, if we continue to lose them, it will not do us any good in the quest for sponsors, and more importantly in the growth of the game. Now that we have a fairly full schedule over the next 6 months, priority must shift to developing the domestic cricket structure.

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Last year, Uganda had some 25 000 children involved in playing cricket. If we aim to stay above them and the other upcoming Associates, we need to at the very least not only match this, but exceed it. Kenya also need to do more work to take cricket outside its traditional bases in the country. There is a strong following among the communities that originated in India and Pakistan, and to a lesser extent the European population, but comparitively little interest yet amongst the African population, certainly when compared to the overall population of the country. Long term, it is my firm belief that Kenya has the potential in terms of racial mixture to pruduce one of the best teams in the World. One only has to look at some of the best players for us in recent years to see that we have several communities capable of providing hugely talented players. The difficulty is to convince the majority of the country that cricket is a sport not only worth following, but worth playing as well. This must start at school level and it must start now.

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Not only should the game be introduced to more school children, but it must be aggressively marketed to the general population. There is a vacuum at the moment for Kenyan sports fans generated by the continued demise of soccer and the poor way it is run. Cricket is at a stage where it could really benefit from this. My suggestion would be for Cricket Kenya to use 'indigenous' players such as Tikolo, Odhiambo and Odoyo to do radio and TV adverts promoting the game as not only a sport, but career as well. Kenyans love a spectacle and will often gather to watch anything that provides one. A travelling promotional movie/info show could provide this at a fairly low cost, and could go around the country educating people about the game, then get them involved in actually playing after the session. This is just one of many ways to promote the game, but the bottom line is that whatever is done must be done actively and aggressively. Growing cricket's populatity will not happen by itself.

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Linked to this is the need for a national league in both forms of the game. Only when our top players get regular practice at the longer version of the game will standards really improve enough to worry Test teams. Only when players from all over Kenya are making it through to the national team will we even begin to realise our potential. Both are a long way off, but the first steps must be taken now with setting up the structure to achieve these dreams.

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Cricket Kenya have been doing some great work in getting cricket back up on its feet in Kenya, but now they must get it walking in the right direction. Hopefully, we will hear news of things happening to this end soon.