Rescheduled Bangladesh Trip Jeopardises Bermuda ODIs

With Cricket Kenya postponing the Bangladesh matches by three weeks, there is a major question hanging over the rescheduling of Kenya's fixtures. Three weeks from the first scheduled match against Bangladesh will be the 9th of August. This would tie in nicely with Bangladesh, who play their last match against Zimbabwe on the 6th and leave Zimbabwe on the 7th. According to the BBC, the matches against Kenya are now scheduled for the 10th, 12th and 14th. All well and good from a Bangladesh point of view. They get to fly to Nairobi, have a couple of days to acclimatise, then play the matches.

.

Things are not so rosy from Kenya's perspective. We are scheduled to play Bermuda in two ODIs on August 9th and 10th. It does not take a rocket scientist to work out that we cannot be in two places at one time, so someone, most likely Bermuda, is going to miss out. A precedent has already been set earlier this year when Kenya cancelled an ODI against Holland to fit in the tour to Bangladesh. That would have angered the Dutch, and now we risk alienating two more of the Associates. Bermuda will feel very hard done by if we cancel on them to play someone else, whoever it is. Canada, who were due to host the matches will also lose out. Cricket Kenya are going to need to do some serious manoeuvring to ensure both countries are kept happy. Apart from it being a poor way to treat someone else, what goes around comes around. Kenya cannot afford to lose friends at the moment, and we are looking at doing just that by messing other Associates about.

.

It is great that we can reschedule the matches against Bangladesh, and that they have been able to accomodate us. Now, we have to find a way to reschedule the matches against Bermuda so that they do not lose out on two vital ODIs, and Canada do not lose out on hosting two matches. If we don't do this, not only will we lose even more respect internationally, but we will face teams becoming ever more reluctant to play us because of our unpredictability. We owe our fellow Associates a fair go, especially now that Samir Inamdar has been elected to represent them on the ICC board. Lets hope Cricket Kenya realise this and do something to sort the mess out.