Saturday, April 25, 2009

U19 Squad named

Kenya's Squad to the Africa Zone U19 world cup qualifiers has been named with an interesting mix of players, though only one, Taaha Sulemanjee, come from outside of Nairobi.

Karan Kaul leads the side and will be a key player with both bat and ball, though it is the latter that is his stronger suit. Interestingly, it is 15 year old Kennedy Owino who will deputise, though this may not be all that surprising considering that he has captained at U15 level and is widely regarded as a future leader at this level as well. He is a very talented batsman and one that should relish the challenge of stepping up to the older age group.

Likewise Emmanuel "Fundi" Bundi, who purely on talent looks to be one of the brightest prospects on the horizon. Capable of scoring quickly, this is sometimes his downfall as, a bit like Alex Obanda, he can have a tendency to try and hit everything to the boundary. Hopefully with age, this will be tempered and he still has plenty of time. this could be a very valuable learning experience for him.

Harrison Ambani and Paul Anjere are two players that I saw last year in the nets during training and are players I feel will one day go on to great things. Ambani in particular has a fantastic action and if he grows (he was very slight in build), will develop into a very useful quick bowler. Good to see these two selected - I hope they get a chance and confirm my expectations.

I know little about the rest of the players, so any light anyone can shed will be appreciated. All the best to the team, hopefully with the pressure of qualifying not there (we qualify automatically as hosts), they will be able to both put on a top display and gain valuable experience. With Angara and Suji to oversee things, they at least have two of the best coaches in the country to look after them. Best wishes.

Full squad:

Joseph Angara Team Coach Swamibapa Club
Martin Suji Team Manager Kanbis Club
Karan Kaul (Captain) Bowler All rounder Simba Union
Kennedy Owino Ochieng (Vice Captain) Batsman Telca Cricket Club
Keval Anilkumar Patel Off Spinner Aga Khan Sports Club
Mahendra Mansukh Ashani Opening Bowler Telca Cricket Club
Vikram Saleel Thampy Opening Batsman Aga Khan Sports Club
Emmanuel Bundi Ringera Batsman All Rounder Telca Cricket Club
Harrison Ambani Angila Medium Pace Bowler Ngara Sports Club
Abdulqair Murtaza Tayabali Najmi Opening Batsman Qutbi Sports Club
Rahul Harish Vishram Wicket Keeper Batsman Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Cricket Club
Taaha Abizar Fakhruddin Sulemanjee Off Spinner Mombasa Sports Club
Raj Hemchand Savala Left Arm Spinner Oshwal Cricket Club
Paul Anjere Angila Batsman All rounder Telca Cricket Club
Lucas Oluoch Ndandason Opening Bowler Simba Union
Joseph Onyango Ochieng Medium Pace Bowler Ngara Sports Club

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Let the next Kenyan squad to world cup has few bright promising youngsters from U19 squad.

Unknown said...

In myopenion, these youngesters are the future of Kenyan Cricket, and in the Captainship of KARAN KAUL who have been working hard in both Balling & Battaing, and also got coaching from International Indian Cricket Players in Mumbai, will definately bring the glory back to our country Kenya.

I wish Karan Kaul and team all sucess in all the matches.

Arun Kumar Jain