Eldine Baptiste Q&A

A new feature on Kenya Cricket.com will be a monthly interview with a player or official connected to Kenyan Cricket. Please note that due to distance constraints most interviews will take place via email so some questions may seem abrupt. We hope you enjoy the new feature and find the information of interest none-the-less.

It is fitting that as a new national coach has just been appointed, our first interview is with Eldine Baptiste (pictured during his time at Eastern Province in south Africa). We would like to thank him for taking the time to answer some questions on his plans for the future.

What are your three main priorities as national coach?

1) Work together with the management and its shareholders and players and other entities.
ii) To form an alliance of discipline and respect the players.
iii) Getting to know each players weakness and strength and once the areas have been identified we will work to improve and eliminate any negatives shades

What are your short term goals as coach and what are your long term goals?

Short term goals.
Need to get a squad that will be able to compete in all competitions.

Long term goals.
To prepare our selves from now to 2011.

When Kenya were interviewing for the position they stated that one of the candidates had extensive plans on how to develop and progress the game in Kenya. Were you that candidate and if so can you give us an insight into those plans?

I’ m not that candidate.

Do you have plans for a more active role for the Kenya A team to help bridge the gap between the domestic game and the national side?

The only involvement will be to watch the local league and look for young talents.
The league structure should have a good development program and needs to have teams to have balance strength Vs strength.

From what you have seen of the Kenyan team in the past, where do you think you will be able to make the biggest impact and where do you think you will be able to make the quickest impact?

The biggest is to make players be professionals on all the disciplines and work on technical skills
.
Quickest impact is to make the players understand the basics of the game.

What is your biggest concern with your new position?

The concern is to improve on the one day game performance.

All Kenya’s current national squared, with the exception of UK based Seren Waters, are from Nairobi. Do you envisage this as something that may change during your tenure?

I intend to spread the game beyond Nairobi.

There are only a few weeks before your first match in charge of the Kenya team. How do you plane to use this short time to make Kenya competitive against a strengthening Zimbabwe side?

Do our basics well and execute our game plane.

How do you envisage your role as national coach tying in with development of Kenya cricket at junior and grass roots level?

To coach the coaches who are to handling development in to get to produce better players.

How much say will you have in selection of both the national squad and of the playing xi?

Yes I will always have say in the final selection.

Does your ‘no sacred cows’ quote the Standard mean that we may see some new faces in the national team?

There will be opportunities for better players to be in the side. If they are good enough players, they will always be given advice.

Given the politics that have plagued Kenyan cricket in recent years, how have you prepared your self for this and how to plan to deal with the different factions you will come across?

Politics I leave for politicians and I only deal with cricket issues and control what I can, I will let those who can deal with it deals with it.

Again, our thanks to Eldine for taking the time to share his thoughts. If there is a player or official you would like to see featured in future interviews, please let us know either via email or through our facebook page.

Finally a new coach

Cricket Kenya today finally announced the appointment of Eldine Baptiste as coach of the national side bringing to an end months of speculation and frustration on the part of fans and players alike. The Atiguan is the second West Indian to coach Kenya in recent years following in the footsteps of Roger Harper who was in charge prior to Andy Kirsten. All concerned with Kenyan cricket must hope that he will be able to turn around the slump under Kirsten and create the same consistent improvement that Kenya managed under Harper. At one stage under Harper, Kenya went for a string of at least 10 matches in which at least one player produced a personal best each game. If that form can be replicated again, things would indeed be looking up.

Baptiste has experience at both ODI and Test level where he is one of only a handful of players to be on the winning side in his first 10 Tests. Again, we hope he will be able to replicate this success with the Kenya side. If he is to do so, he will have to act quickly as Kenya are due to take on Zimbabwe away in the Intercontinental Cup sometime before the end of the month. For some reason the ICC have continued to keep the further scheduling of this tournement shrouded in secrecy - hardly something that will endear them to various administrators such as the NPCA who are trying to plan their domestic leagues. How can they organise the games around International matches when only the ICC actually know when they will be?

Back to Baptiste however. His first challenge will be to get the players on-side and he would be advised to ensure impartiality in this - something his predecessor is rumoured to have had difficulty in doing. That he has worked with Harper in the past may well bear him in good stead. Team fitness should not be a problem with several players in the team reported to be able to do level 13+ in the beep test and all are playing regularly at domestic level so should be in good form. His challenge will be to take this and turn them into a unit that can not only compete with the better teams out there but win against them - something that has certainly lacked of late.

Kenya now has a new coach as well as a new captain and it should now be all systems go to first win the Intercontinental Cup and then qualify for the 20-20 and 50 over World Cups. All will be significant achievements, especially as the first 2 have been elusive, but all are certainly within the bounds of Kenya's talent. Beyond the current squad however, Baptiste must also look to the fringe players and ensure they are given opportunities to prove themselves and can fight for a place in the full side. There are enough good players in Kenya that national selection should be a hard-fought affair and if Baptiste can instill a sense of competition in the side to compliment the new found motivation under Ouma, this could be a very positive time.

While this is a positive and hopeful time, it will not be an easy job for Baptiste who must also bring his influence to bear on the administrators to give his new charges the type of competetive cricket they need to improve, both domestically and against international opposition. Added to this, he must try and put a stamp on the development of the game in the country so he leaves a legacy not only at national level but all the way down through the grass roots as well. When Cricket Kenya said they had short-listed 5 coaches, they mentioned one had a lot of ideas on developing the game as a whole in Kenya. Let's hope Baptiste was that one and his ideas are given a fertile ground on which to grow.

All the best and a very warm welcome to Kenya's new coach!

More on the new National Coach saga

While we wait to hear who Cricket Kenya decide on to lead the team up to the next World Cup, rumour continues to abound. Richard Mwangi in a recent article stated that the 5 shortlisted candidates were being flown out to Kenya for interviews. In fact what is happening is that one of the shortlisted candidates offered to come and make a presentation in Kenya as to his views and plans for Kenyan cricket. Cricket Kenya intended to use this trip as an opportunity to interview that candidate while the other candidates will either be interviewed by phone or by Samir Inamdar when he travels to England on ICC business later in August.

Inamdar confirms that CK have shortlisted 5 possible candidates from an initial application pool of around 20. CK will not however release names at this stage so there is no way of knowing if any of the previously touted candidates are genuinely in contention. The most recent rumour from the Times of India is that Anshuman Gaekwad has been linked with the post. Previously both Balwinder Sandhu and Allan Butcher were thought to be the preferred candidates.

In terms of Martin Suji acting as coach for the Canada tour, Inamdar has this to say: "We had already decided that Martin Suji who was assistant coach under Andy Kirsten would be the preferred coach for this tour. He has been with the team for about a year and a half."

Suji is a good choice to lead the team to Canada, but even should he do a great job, it seems that we will still have a coach from abroad taking over. Hopefully CK will make the decision before Kenya's next international fixtures, time is already getting increasingly short...

Suji to coach team in Canada

With the new national coach yet to be chosen, it is understood that Martin Suji will travel in that capacity when Kenya tour Canada next month. According to a report in today's Nation it will now not be until September that the new coach is named. This is a frustrating delay in some ways as it may well be almost half way through the current Intercontinental Cup campaign before he takes charge. Given that there will then be a settling in period, Kenya's fate in the competition may well be as good as sealed by the time his influence kicks in. According to the article, 5 shortlisted coaches will be invited travel to Kenya for one-on-one interviews in August. It is not clear who will be footing the bill for this.

While the delay is frustrating, it gives further experience to Suji who could possibly be the man to step permanently into this role in the future, or sooner should he be able to get results while he is in charge. Ultimately, a home-grown coach would be ideal for Kenya provided they were of sufficient standard.

With most of the current national team also in fine form in the NPCA league, it looks unlikely that there will be much change to the team when it is announced next week. On current form, the one player outside the national squad who is returning exceptional figures is Stray Lions bowler Darshit Shah. Another good weekend ahead and it would surely make it hard for the selectors not to at least consider him. He is the only bowler to have so far picked up 4+ wickets in both weeks, though Nehemiah Odhiambo does match his 9 wickets so far for the season.

Still a day or so away...

Despite claims in the local press that the new Kenya Captain and squad were to be finalised on Sunday, Tom Tikolo, CEO of Cricket Kenya has informed Kenya Cricket.com via email that:

"The issue of captaincy and team to travel to Ireland will be sorted out in a day or so as all the procedures are in place.

The coach issue is still pending as we await advice from all parties concerned. Meanwhile Andy Kirsten will be going with the team to Ireland on temporary basis."

On the coach issue, this is no surprise at it was already known that Kirsten would continue to act as coach for the Ireland trip. For those waiting on selection and to hear regards the captaincy, this continues to increase the frustration. In terms of selection, it may well be that the selectors will now wait until after the next practice match, due to start today, before making their final decisions. If they had been originally planning on sending the same squad that travelled to South Africa for the World Cup qualifiers, this does make a kind of sense as at least two players not in that party, namely David Obuya and Peter Kituku, both gave indications that they should at least be under consideration for places.

So in the meanwhile, we continue to wait. At least there is the practice match and we will endeavour to bring you updates as they come through.

Or is it?

According to the latest article on cricinfo, the search for Kenya's next coach is more than just a two horse race. No new names are however mentioned, so we are still having to wait to see who it will be. The article does indicate that Andy Kirsten will continue as coach for the Ireland tour and that his contract will then finish at the end of July.

As there has yet been no official word from Cricket Kenya on anything to do with the selction process, so all is still pretty much conjecture at this stage. Does today's article mean that CK will not be choosing either Sandhu or Butcher? Or does it simply mean they are holding their options open for as long as possible before making a decision. If it is the latter, then perhaps the fans and players could be forgiven for wondering why it has already been this late given that Kenya's first match into the new Intercontinental Cup is only a couple of weeks away. Given the last result the team had under Kirsten in Europe, this is a fair question as he will again be at the reins for this trip.

Whatever the Cricket Kenya decision, it would be best it were made sooner rather than later. Already ground has been lost preparing for the 2011 World Cup and we are close to missing the boat in terms of bettering our 3rd place in the Intercontinental Cup.

Down to 2?

Well the inside information is that the new coaching position is between Balwinder Sandhu and Allan Butcher

Of the two, Sandhu has the most experience playing at the top level and will always be remembered for "that ball" in the 1983 world Cup finals that removed Gordon Greenidge's off stump. His coaching credentials however are more of a mystery.

Butcher, father of Mark, has less experience at the top level having only played one Test and one ODI. He does however have more coaching experience having coached since 1992, though losing his position at Surrey in 2008 due to them failing to win a game under his stewardship hardly inspires confidence.

No word yet as to who the new Captain will be.

Have a view on this, or know something we haven't heard? Visit our facebook discussion on this topic and let us know!

Looking for a new coach

With Kenya scheduled to open their 2009 Intercontinental Cup campaign with an away match versus Ireland on July 3rd, Cricket Kenya appear to be on the lookout for a new coach. Kenya's previous coach, Andy Kirsten was charged with qualifying for the next World Cup, a mission that was accomplished, albeit only just and in unconvincing fashion.

In an advert that was run on the ICC's recruitment page, Cricket Kenya stated they were looking for "a National Coach to drive forward the Kenyan National Team’s preparation for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup". The duration of the contract would be 'up to June 30th 2011 and would be open to extension thereafter' with the new coach ideally able to step into the role in time for Kenya's July commitments.

Now that the application date (5th June) has passed, the advert has been withdrawn and Cricket Kenya have yet to announce if any decision has been made on a short-list of candidates. It is not known if Kirsten is looking to extend his contract for a further term or if Roger Harper (right) who steered Kenya to WCL glory could be lured back.

Whoever gets the position does not have an easy task ahead. Not only must they prepare Kenya's senior team adequately to face increasingly tough Associate competition, but they must also prevail upon the administration the need for Kenya's top players to play more often against each other. They are also likely to face a hostile press who are apt to jump on any slip up by Cricket Kenya and those affiliated with them while ignoring any positives. It may well seem a thankless task, but whoever does take the reigns should also be aware that there is a large latent support base that will get behind them should they be able to produce the results they crave.

We will endeavour to keep you up to dates on developments as they become available.