Kenyan squad announced

Well, I was right in some aspects:
Steve Tikolo (Cpt)
Thomas Odoyo (V.C)
Peter Ongondo
Tanmay Mishra
Ravindu Shah
Hiren Varaiya
Nehemiah Odhiambo
My top 7, were never really in doubt.
Ouma gets the nod for the 'keeper's spot. Not unexpected I suppose considering how much has been inveted in him so far.
David Obuya
Collins Obuya
Jimmy Kamande
Malhar Patel
Also all get in, again no real surprises there I think.
I am surprised that Tony Suji and Lameck Onyango get another shot. I would have liked seeing the two youngsters Karia and Luseno given these spots. I don't think either Suji or Onyango will get much time on the pitch going on the last series, and it may have been better to give the spots to the more inexpeienced pair. Of course it may well be that the performances in training dictated these positions, in which case, fair enough.
Good to see Rajesh Bhudia back in the mix. I thought he bowled well against Holland and deserves a chance at the ODI team.
.
More on this and the squad list can be found here on Cricket Europe - Kenya.

Selection Day

With a week to go before the tri-series gets underway in Mombasa, today will finally see the selection of the Kenya squad for this series and the WCL. This is where people like myself get an opportunity to either say 'I told you so' or look like a complete baboon. Without further ado, here is my guess at the 15 man squad:

.

Steve Tikolo (Cpt)

Thomas Odoyo (V.C)

Peter Ongondo

Tanmay Mishra

Ravindu Shah

Hiren Varaiya

Nehemiah Odhiambo

Abeed Janmohamed (wkt1)

Maurice Ouma (wkt 2)

David Obuya

Collins Obuya

Jimmy Kamande

Malhar Patel

Ashish Karia

Alfred Luseno

.

As to the actual playing XI, I think the top 7 are automatic choices. One out of either of the wicketkeepers will open with Ravindu, then the other 3 spots are up for grabs.

.

Note that as I have not actually been able to see the team in training, there may have been other players who have come to the attention of the selectors and it is equally possible that one or two mentioned will not have lived up to expectations. I guess we shall see soon enough.

Associate players in top 100

Something i like to keep an eye on, purely for interests sake is the ICC rankings list. Going into the tri-series and WCL, there are several players from Associate countries who make the list, and no doubt with the amount of matches to be played over the next three months, we shall see them joined by several more. This can only be a good thing for associate cricket as the rest of the world starts to become more familiar with their names and achievements.

As expected, Kenyan players dominate the associate representatives having played more matches and therefore had more opportunity to perform.

.

Batsmen in top 100:

57th Steve Tikolo (KEN) 503 (best 535 in 1999)

79th Tanmay Mishra (KEN) 432 (career best)

84th = Irvine Romain (BER) 401 (career best)

84th = Thomas Odoyo (KEN) 401 (best 455 in 2001)

92nd Ryan Ten Doeschate (NED) 383 (best 397 in 2006)

.

I expect all of these players to consolidate or gain on their positions in 2007.

.

Bowlers in top 100:

34th Thomas Odoyo (KEN) 552 (career best)

46th Peter Ongondo (KEN) 494 (best 496 in 2006)

78th Steve Tikolo (KEN) 415 (best 418 in 2006)

88th Collins Obuya (KEN) 372 (best 475 in 2003)

99th Dwayne Leverocke (BER) 346 (career best)

100th Martin Suji (KEN) 344 (best 646 in 2003)

.

Suji and Obuya will probably drop out of the top 100 in 2007 as more associate bowlers come up through the rankings. The other four should either consolidate or improve thier positions.

.

No associate players are currently in the top 25 for all rounders, though both Odoyo and Tikolo could make that jump with good performances in Jan and Feb. Here's hoping!

Asif Karim

There is a very interesting article on Sepia Mutiny called 'Kenya's Man-of-the-match' concerning retired Kenyan Captian, Asif Karim. There are also some interesting comments from other players at the end as well. Well worth a read. He also rates in the top ten list of economical bowlers in comparison to overall run rate with his man-of-the-match performance against Australia in the 2003 World Cup - he took 3/7 off 8.3 overs. A great ex-international indeed.