Swamibapa 40 overs Champs

Swamibapa A Team under the captainship of Joseph Angara won the Bag and Balers Trophy to-day at Nairobi Gymkhana when they beat their arch rivals Kanbis A by 37 runs in front of a good crowd. The incident free match was officiated by Kenya International Cricket Umpires Subhash Modi and Rockie D'mello.
Scores:1 Swamibapa 113 all out in 33.5 overs . Francis Otieno man of he match batted well for his fine innings of 38 runs and he was supported by Nemiah Odhiambo 20. Bowling honours for Kanbis were shared by Rajesh Varsani 3/17 and Rajesh Bhudia 2/16.
Kanbis were bowled out for 76 runs in 24 overs. Alpesh Bhudia played an entertaining inings of 30 runs and he was ably supported by Rickesh Hirani14.
Joseph Angara 3/9, Lameck Onyango 3/13, Eliza Otieno 2/18 and Nemiah Odhiambo 2/16 spearheaded the bowling attack for Swamibapa. Maurice Ouma, Kenya Captain was brilliant behind the stumps as an agile wicketkeeper.
During the colourful presentation ceremony at Nairobi Gymkhana, NPCA Chairman thanked he main sponsors Bag and Balers for the tremendous support.
Samir Inamdar, Chairman of Cricket Kenya Cricket appreciated the role of NPCA and also assured Kenya Cricket is going o greater heights. The ceremony was also attended by the officials of Cricket Kenya, NPCA, KCU&SA and representatives of most of the NPCA affiliated clubs.

All down to the final game

Convincing wins from both Kanbis A and Swamibapa A (no news yet from the Stray Lions camp...) mean that the NPCA Super Division Title will be decided on the final day of the competition.

Kanbis A kept alive their title bid with a professional dismissal of Sir Ali A. Sir Ali captain Mujib Ashraf won the toss and elected to bat first with his team scoring 211 all out in 50 overs thanks mainly to Shiraz (?) 58, Farhan (?) 49 and Abdul (?) 44. Bowling honours were shared by Rikesh Hirani who snared 5 wickets for 23 runs and Rohit Varshani (2 wickets for 25 runs).

Kanbis Sports Club had no problem in scoring the required runs (213 for the loss of 3 wickets in 18.5 overs). The batting heroes for Kanbis were Rakeb Patel (78), Alpesh Bhudia (68), the evergreen Ramesh Mepani (35*) and Captain Arvind Halai 18*.

Swamibapa also kept themselves on track for their first League title in 6 years with Elijah Otieno leading the way with a devastating spell in which he took 4 wkts for 6 runs as Swamibapa a bowled out Shree Cutchi Leva for just 74. Peter Ongondo (2/14) and Nehemiah Odhiambo (1/25) were the other bowlers of note.

Swamibapa had little trouble running down the total with main contributions coming from Francis Otieno (22) Nehemiah Odhiambo (22) and Tony Suji (15).

Swamibapa A play their final game next week against Stray Lions A knowing that a win or even a full quota of bonus points will seal the title. Stray Lions for their part can now no longer win the League after Swamibapa's win but victory in their final game could see them take second place if Kanbis slip up. The defending champions however should breeze past SCLYL 'A' at Pindolia Academy and so will keep the pressure on Swamibapa.

At the bottom end of the Super Division it will similarly come down to the final game to see who is relegated with both Sir Ali A and Simba Union A hoping a last gasp win will save them from the chop.

It is great to see such a competitive season in the NPCA with no fewer than four teams still in the running going into the last month. Hopefully this competitiveness will transfer itself across to competition for places in the national side.

Swamibapa A beat Kanbis A to consolidate lead

Early reports in see Swamibapa A beating Kanbis to strengthen their claim on this year's title. we do not yet have details of the game, but a Swamibapa win will take them that little bit closer while Kanbis will really have to pull out some big results to avoid what could well be a finish outside the top 2 - something hard to imagine even as recently as last year.

batting first, Kanbis gtwere bowled out for 197 with Nehemia Odhiambo taking 2wkts for 21 runs, Tony Suji, 3wkts for 22 runs, Shem Obado 2wkts for 43 runs, James Ngoche 2 wkts for 29 runs and Lamek Onyango 1 for 26.

.Swami started on a good note with Maurice Ouma 37 and Francis Otieno 32 but Kanbis kept up the pressure taking some cheap wickets. Nehemia Odhiambo rallied with 37 runs and Lameck Onyango scored 34 to bring Swamibapa closer to the target which Elijah Otieno (16*) reached with a boundry with 2 overs to go.

In other games, Jimmy Kamande (pictured right v Ireland in the IC), captain of Stray Lions A (20) lead his team to a fabulous win over Simba Union (3) at Peponi School Ground when beating them by a massive 224 runs. The match was officiated by Subhash Modi and David Odhiambo.

Stray Lions won the toss and elected to bat first and scored 388 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 49 overs thanks mainly to Jimmy Kamande who lit up the proceedings with a remarkable century (127). He received very good support from David Obuya 78, Peter Kituku 45, Hiren Varaiya 39 , Nadeem Ahmed 25 and Steve Tikolo 20. Bowling honours for Simba Union were shared by their captain Gagandeep Singh 2 wickets for 66 runs and Chetan Sangrakar 2 wickets for 32 runs.

Simba Union were bowled out for 164 in 34.3 overs with fine resistance coming from a Sri Lankan born left handed Shezad Nizar with a commanding and strokeful 74 and Lucas Olouch 36. For Stray Lions Steve Tikolo (3/25), Darshit Shah (3/43) and Hiren Varaiya 2/29 were the most impressive and successful bowlers.

SCLYL A also won chasing down 264 to beat Sir Ali A.

Telca won their game v Kanbis B to complete a horror weekend for Kenya's most successful club. This win puts Telca in clear second place behind Swamibapa, though with games in hand against weak sides, Stray Lions A could still mount a challenge for the title in what is developing into the most close fought NPCA League in years. With 4 teams still in with a very possible chance of winning the tournament, could this be the year that domestic cricket finally gets its lustre back?

Swamibapa edge Kanbis as bowlers dominate Super Division contest

Swamibapa Cricket Club A Team (16 points) edged Kanbis Sports Club A Team (4 points) by 15 runs in a nail biting finish at Premier Club yesterday in a top of the table clas umpired by by Subhash Modi and Rockie Demello.

Swamibapa Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first, but only managed to score 161 runs, all out in 43 overs. The top scorers for Swamibapa were Maurice Ouma (53), Shem Obado (34) and Peter Ongondo (28). Pick of the bowlers for Kanbis were Harish Jesani who took 3/27, Nilesh Varsani (2/25) and Rajesh Varsani who finished up with a very tidy 2/5.

Having done the hard work with the ball, Kanbis should have put Swamibapa to bed, but an inspired effort in the field saw them for just 146 in 41 overs - 15 runs shy of Swamibapa's total.

Rakep Patel (57) pictured followed up his century from last week well but other than Arvind Halai (30) who also batted well for Kanbis, did not receive the support needed against an attack boasting 7 seamers. Bowling honours were shared by Swamibapa with Elijah Otien0 (3/29) picking up the most wickets, though Lameck Onyango (2/21), Peter Ongondo (2/19), and Joseph Angra (1 wicket for 1 run) all impressed.

This win puts Swamibapa in a commanding position at the top of the table as Stray Lions did not play this weekend. It is still early in the season and Kanbis are not the sort of team to just fade quietly into the sunset, but just maybe will this be Swamibapa's year?

Odhiambo again the man for Swamibapa

Super League:

Nehemiah Odhiambo turned in another fine all round performance as Swamibapa trounced Simba Union by 228 runs in their second convincing win of the NPCA season. Batting first, Swamibapa scored an imposing 358 with several batsmen chipping in with Half Centuries: Maurice Ouma 62, Nehemiah Odiambo 66 and Tony Suji 67 while Mitesh Sangani top scored with 80. Odhiambo then took 3 for15, Shem Obado 3 for 13 and Elijah Otieno 2 for 19 as Simba Union were bundled out for 130, only Runish Shah (51) making an impression with the bat. Shah earlier stood out with the ball for Simba picking up 3-69.

Report – Joseph Angara

Stray Lions(18 points) captained by Jimmy Kamande registered their second win this season when they beat Sir Ali Sports Club by nine wickets at the Peponi School Ground on Sunday in their NPCA Super League match which was umpired by Subhash Modi and Daniel Macdonald.

Sir Ali Sports Club won the toss and elected to bat first and were soon in trouble against the tight bowling of Darshit Shah (4-22) and Hiren Varaiya (4-24). Sir Ali Sports Club were bowled out for 94 runs in 35.3 overs. Their top scorers were Faraz Bhutt 37 and Aslam 14.

Stray Lions did not have much problem in scoring the required runs - 98 for 1 wicket in 11.5 overs thanks mainly to David Obuya 34, Jimmy Kamande 31 Not Out and Peter Kituku 23 not out.

Rakep Patel meanwhile showed why he should be given more responsibility for the National Team as he stroked a chanceless 138 in the battle between the two Kanbis sides, the only century of the round. Kanbis A went on to win by 48 runs, Rajesh Bhudia also chipping in with 60 runs.

Telca recorded their first win of the season as they coasted to a 193 run thumping of Sir Ali. Thomas Odoyo (60) and Newton Muthee (59) were the stars with the bat while Alfred Luseno took 4-16 and Vikram Thampy 3-27 in an easy run in the field.

Division 1:

Kongonis Development side turned around their first week loss with a solid 69 run win over Ruaraka. Batting first, Kongonis made 246 with the main contributors being William Rudd (76), Chris Childs (49), Duncan Allen (21), dominic Wesonga (19) and Hugo Norman (18). Manoj (A...?) 3-30 and Aashit (...?) 3-38 were the best bowlers for Ruaraka. In restricting Ruaraka to 177, Allen was the pick taking 3 for 35 off 9 while Bernard (O...?) took 3 for 42 off 9.3 and Wesonga was most economical with 2 for 20 off 10.Luv Hirani top scored for Ruaraka with 40.

Report – Dominic Wesonga

Division 2:

Golden XI won yesterday against Sir Ali 'B'. Sir Ali won the toss and elected to bat, they scored 132 all out with Tariq top scoring on 25. in reply Golden X1 easily reached the target with some aggressive play from the opening batsmen Mitesh(24) and Kamlesh(29)

Report - Charles Kariuki

The Ladies XI cricket side lost their opening match of the season by 143 runs to Aaryans on Sunday. But despite the loss the girls put a spirited fight to resctrict the hosts to 220 despite being on 76 for 0 at one stage. Ruth Mwihaki stared with 4 wickets. But the batting was the let down once again. Hope we will see improvement in the next match when they face Ruaraka. Report - Dun Okinyo

Keep the results coming in please, we will update as we can - Full results are out and will follow in a separate post

Odhiambo leads way as Swamibapa win

Early reports coming in from the first round of the NPCA League:

SUPER DIV:
Swamibapa starts on a high note beating Kanbis B by 173 runs: Nehemiah Odhiambo hitting a deserved 101 with 8 sixes and 5 fours with a supportive 60 from Kenya Captain Maurice Ouma and Shem Obando’s 25 helping Swamibapa to 254. Bowling honours for Kanbis were shared by Captain Gopal Vekaria 3/59 and Rohit Vekaria 2/53.

Odhiambo (pictured during the recent Intercontinental cup match v Ireland - photo courtesy Cricket Europe) then went on to take 6 wickets for 26 as his brother, James Ngoche, picked up 3 for 10 runs as Kanbis B faltered to 81 all out. Mansukh Jessani (16) and Jagdish Khetani (16) were the best of the Kanbis batsmen.
Report – Joseph Angara (Swamibapa), Subhash Modi (Umpire)

Simba Union won against Sir Ali by 7 wickets. Sir Ali won the toss and elected to bat scoring 127, a total that Simba chased down in just 19 overs.
Report – Abdulqadir Najmi (Simba Union)

Straylions A played its first match with Sri Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj in the Super League at Peponi School. SCLPS won the toss and elected to field first. David Obuya and Steve Tikolo opened the batting and they made a huge opening partnership of 266 in 36 overs. David Obuya got out for 77 and Steve Tikolo 170. Stray Lions' other main contributor was Peter Kituku who scored 29. Stray Lions ended with 346/6 in 50 overs. SCLPS started the batting after lunch and were all out for 142 in 23 overs. Darshit Shah took 5 Wickets, Hiren Varaiya took 3 wickets, Josphet Ababu and Andrew Mboya took one each.
Report - Thota Sreenivas (Stray Lions)

Kanbis A 252 (Rajesh Varsani 59, Arvind Halai 37, Ramesh Mepani 32, Vikram ? 2-44, Paul Anjere 2-50, Alfred Luseno 2-52)
beat Telca 206 (Thomas Odoyo 43, Newton Muthee 33, Prasanth ? 33, Rakep Patel 3-13, Rikesh Hirani 3-36, Ramesh Mepani 2-24)
by 46 runs
scorecard - Kanti Rabadia (Kanbis)


DIV 1:
Swamibapa B 250-8 defeated Kongonis Development XI 244-9 by 6 runs.
Report - Dominic Wesonga (Kongonis)

DIV II:
Straylions B played their first match with Golden XI in their Division B match at Highridge Primary School. Batting first, Golden XI were all out for 77. Ramesh Shamji took 5 wickets, Nadeem took 4 wickets and Girish Nair took one wicket. In Stray Lion's successful 77 run chase, Anand Ranganathan top scored with 45 runs.
Report - Thota Sreenivas (Stray Lions)

IF YOU PLAY FOR A TEAM NOT MENTIONED OR YOU HAVE MORE DETAILS< PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

31 teams prepare for NPCA League this weekend

As the national team return home to lick their wounds, there will be plenty of opportunity for them to prove why they are in the team and for pretenders to challenge for spots as the NPCA League gets underway this weekend.

There are 31 teams split across 4 division and while the nation's best players will doing battle in the Super Division, competition will be equally fierce all the way down to division III.

SUPER LEAGUE ENTRIES 2009.
Kanbis 'A'
Stray Lions 'A'
Swamibapa 'A'
Telca XI
Sir Ali 'A'
Simba Union 'A'
Kanbis 'B'
SCLYL 'A'

DIV I ENTRIES 2009
Nbi. Nookers 'A'
Swamibapa 'B'
Ruaraka 'A'
Premier
Ngara
Kongonis Dev
Nbi.Jafferys
Nbi.Gymkhana

DIV II ENTRIES 2009
Golden XI
Aga Khan
Qutbis
Goan Institue 'A'
Simba Union 'B'
SCLYL 'B'
Stray Lions 'B'
Sir Ali 'B'

Div III ENTRIES 2009
Parklands
Nbi.Nookers 'B'
Oshwal XI
Ruaraka 'B'
Aaryans
Goan Institute 'B'
Women's XI

Gearing up for the new season

Despite a deafening silence from Nairobi, the NPCA season has kicked off with Kanbis reigning supreme in the 6-a-side competition used to open the new season. This should mean that we will hear some news on the Main League soon. Fingers crossed that the Vortex Goat will remain absent this year...

Movement is also under way at the coast where the CCA have released the playing conditions and documents required by teams and players for the 2007/8 season. It is all very official looking with no real explanations, but it looks at first glance as though there will be an 80 over format played as well as the 50-over league and knockout tournaments. Great to see that the CCA at least are trying to give their players at least a slightly longer format of the game. Perhaps this is to get their players used to bowling longer spells and building innings for when the national comp finally kicks off. I hope I am not being too optimistic, but what chance that the NPCA will follow suit?

Hopefully this season, we will be able to improve our coverage, but this requires feedback from the players and clubs. If you are involved with cricket in Kenya, I urge you to get in touch so that we can get news and results out there quickly and accurately.

In a separate development, Cricket Kenya are making a second attempt at getting their website up and going. Hopefully, it will work out better than the last one! So far, it is still very out of date and very much 'under construction' with most of the links either blank or not working. I have never the less put the link to it back on the side bar so people can log in and check its progress.
They have a section for domestic results, so I can only pray that they are actually going to keep this updated and not let the goat anywhere near it.
Let us know your thoughts.

Kanbis, Holding and is the goat back?

Due to my commitments at Cricket Europe and trying to get everything in my paid job back on track since returning from the WCL, things have been a bit hectic - hence the lack of regular posts. Will try to do better.
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This does not mean there has been a lack of things to comment on in Kenyan cricket:
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Last week, Kanbis showed that once again they are going to be the team to beat in the NPCA tournament. They earlier secured their longterm future by completing a deal with Eastleigh Secondary School whereby they will revamp the school's abandoned soccer pitch and thereby ensure that nothing but cricket gets played on the cricket oval, as well as working towards setting up a cricket academy within the school. Last weekend both A and B teams registered big wins in their first games of the 20-20 competition - with 2 teams performing so well, there has to be a case for them to perhaps enter 3rd and 4th string sides into the lower divisions as well. Where they lead, others will be forced to follow if they hope to break the Kanbis dominance. One thing however is that the Vortex Goat seems to reside just outside their ground eating their communications as well as Mama Mweni's lingerie from the washing line. Anyone with any contacts at Kanbis please get them to return my emails. A full roundup of last week's NPCA matches and RVCA's Woolmatt Cup game can be found here on CricketEurope - Kenya.
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All credit to Tanmay Mishra for his second placing in the Most Promising category of the Sports Personality of the year. Hopefully the whole team will be able to back up their 2003 effort and win this award again next year!
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Not only is the Goat disrupting transmissions from Nairobi, but seems to have firmly established a second fiefdom in Mombasa. Maybe it is the upcoming World Cross Country Champs that attract it with the horde of journalist that can feed it, or maybe it is the added salt in the Sukuma, but once again it is getting in the way of cricket news from the CCA. For all that comes out of there in terms of results, one would think cricket in the area is dead, gone, no more. Someone please prove otherwise. It does not look good that the home region of the Cricket Kenya Chairman is so quiet. Time for Mbuzi Choma Coast-Style?
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As for Michael Holding's comments? REMEMBER PUNE 1996! Maybe we should send the goat over to Jamaica to give him a butt up the butt - or is it a case of Mbuzi kabisa siwezi kumbuka!
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Apologies to all fluent Kiswahili speakers for mangling their beautiful language.