Harper Confident Youngsters Will Come Good

Kenya coach Roger Harper told the Nation today that he is confident that Kenya's youngsters, who have so far largely failed to impress, will come good in the long run. Harper was speaking from the Ruaraka ground where the squad are playing a four day practice match. He said the abscence of leading players Steve Tikolo and Hitesh Modi left a hole, but that he was generally happy with how training was going. Tikolo is expected to link up with the team after he plays his last match for Haverigg CC on 23rd July.

Also in the article was the news that Kenya look like being without pace bowler Alfred Luseno, who returned from the A team tour to Denmark with a shoulder injury. With long time opening bowler Martin Suji also still out injured, this does open the door for the other young seamers to stake a claim. Two of the bowling spots will almost certainly be taken by Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ongondo, but who joins them as third or fourth seamers is up for grabs. Options for the selectors include Nehemiah Odhiambo who had a fairly decent tour of Denmark, Rageb Aga (if he is indeed back with the squad), Rajesh Bhudia, Ashish Karia and possibly a couple of the other youngsters. Kenya will also have a fair number of spinners to choose from and one would expect the current practice game to have some bearing on the final 14. It would be nice to find a scorecard for this game to get some idea of how the players are performing.