Cutting off the nose to spite the face

Swamibapa are a club with a history of contributing a great deal to Kenyan cricket and with the bulk of the Kenyan national team playing for them, they should be one of the flag bearers for the game in the country. Instead they have allowed petulance and selfishness to get in the way of duty and in doing so have done great damage to the game and to their own players in the process.

This season should have provided a three way battle for the title with Kanbis, Swamibapa and new comers Stray Lions all battling out for the top honours in Kenyan cricket. At the beginning of the season the clubs met with the NPCA and the issue of players away on national duty was raised. It was decided then that no matches would be postponed and the teams would have to delve into their lower grades to make up sides. Everyone was happy with this until Swamibapa started to lose matches because their players were away representing the country. They requested other matches be delayed and when the NPCA refused, they withdrew their team from the Super Division in protest.

What short sighted idiocy. Kenya's top cricketers get little enough cricket at is is, but now the Swamibapa players, who make up the bulk of the national team will go into the series against Canada and Bermuda with hardly any cricket under their belts since the 20-20 world Cup. Instead of biting the bullet and putting out the best side they could under the circumstances, Swamibapa have tried to hold the game to ransom. The NPCA, quite rightly, have stood their ground and all that has been achieved is that the players (whom both the club and the administration are essentially there to serve) once again get the raw end of the deal. Worse is that Kenya have two must-win Intercontinental Cup games coming up and go in under prepared as well as having no national coach. The latter is certainly no fault of Swamibapa, but the lack of cricket certainly is and if the team lose because of it, I for one will hold them largely responsible. It must be tempting for the selectors to look elsewhere at the players who have been in action and have shown good form. Harsh on the Swamibapa players perhaps, but maybe they should have prevailed more upon the club to do the right thing.

Swamibapa's stand is just the latest in a series of poor and selfish actions made by a variety of cricket administrators in Kenya over the last year. When will the buffoons that make these sorts of decisions realise that all they are doing by them is hurting an already fragile game. As administrators of the game, they are there to serve it, not the other way round. If they cannot grow up and do their job properly, they should not be running a bath let alone what should be Kenya's premier team sport. It is high time that politics and personal pride was kicked out of Kenyan cricket. There should be no space in the game's set up for it and the sooner those responsible grow up and realise where their priorities should be, the sooner the people that play and love the game can get on and do just that without senseless interference.