Coast Twenty-20 Tournament Delayed

According to the Standard Newspaper, The start of the Coast Cricket Association 20-20 cricket, second leg, has been delayed due unresolved cases of indiscipline. Papu Singh, the Associations fixtures secretary, yesterday said there were cases of indiscipline that needed to be addressed before the league could start.
Mombasa Cricket Club allegedly walked out half way through a match citing biased umpiring, and CCA say that the issue of umpires need to be addressed before the league could get under way. Singh said that part of the problem was there were not enough umpires, and urged the umpiring association to look for ways to train more officials. He also reassured teams that the second leg would get under way at the end of February.
Hopefully this situation will be sorted out soon, as it is important for Kenyan cricket that the game outside of Nairobi improves in terms of competitiveness. Mombasa is the second cricketing hub, and has the potential to produce some quality players for the national team. It is just as much up to the CCA to improve the situation for umpires as it is for the umpires association to train more officials. Conditions for umpires need to be good enough to encourage more people to learn the craft, and they need to be protected to make sure that the better ones remain. On the other side of the coin, biased umpiring is unacceptable, and should be dealt with severely. It will do the game a lot of damage if it is allowed to go on, and this is a time when Kenyan cricket, does not need things holding it back. Lets hope a solution can be found quickly, so that the players can get back into the middle, and get on with playing cricket.

In a separate report, the Standard put the value of the just concluded sponsorship deal between Cricket Kenya and IHSAN Sports at US $45 000, the equivalent to 3.2 million Kenya Shillings. That will certainly help in terms of supplying equipment to the development program, but there is still a need for more sponsors to get on board.

Obuya Eyes Return to Australia

Kennedy Otieno Obuya has stated that he will be returning to Frankstone Cricket Club in Melbourne next September. Obuya returned recently from a three-month stint with the club facilitated by Richard Done, the ICC high performance manager. Kennedy performed well with the bat hitting three fifties, and had the opportunity to work with wicket keeping guru Rod Marsh.
Impressed with the facilities, coaching, and different level of cricket, he says

"Australia has changed my game totally in all aspects."

We look forward to seeing the effects of his improved technique in Zimbabwe. Obuya is of the opinion that Kenya's young talent would benefit greatly if they were sent on similar trips for expert training. With the depth of cricket in Australia, and the facilities available to players, he has a good point. For example Frankstone, a District Club, has 6 grades in action every weekend:

" We played 100 overs matches on Saturdays, 50 overs on Sundays and Twenty-20s on Tuesdays"

Kenya has a long way to go before we see a similar amount of cricket being played in our domestic leagues, and our facilities will realistically probably never get near Australia's. Maybe Cricket Kenya should look into sponsorship deals to take the most promising players to Australia, or even England or South Africa for short stints. The experience gained from such trips would be invaluable in improving the standard of cricket in Kenya, as these players would be able to pass on what they learnt to others on their return. There are already a number of Kenyans in Australia, and plenty of companies do business in both countries, so sponsorship should not necessarily be too hard to come by.

Crunch Time For Selection

Cricket Kenya's selection sub-committee meets today to decide the final squad to tour Zimbabwe. It will be very interesting to see whom the selectors decide to take. According to reports in the Nation, some of the short-listed players from overseas have only just turned up for training, and there are a couple who have not been heard from, or who are injured. Two of the most notable absentees are Ravindu Shah, still suffering from his injury, and Hitesh Modi who is thought to be in England and has not been heard from. Mohammed Sheikh has also declared himself unavailable. With Ravindu out, the most likely opening partner to Kennedy Otieno Obuya is Maurice Ouma who, in Shah's absence over the last year, has shown he can handle the position, though he does need to convert his starts to big scores. Ouma has however only recently joined the squad from his club in South Africa, and recent form in the NPCA limited overs competition would give strong backing to 19 year old Tanmay Mishra as an alternative should the selectors decide Ouma is better suited down the order. Other batsmen who will probably get the nod are Steve Tikolo, Kenya's captain and lynchpin, and Charles Obuya who has shown his talent on the domestic scene over the last year. It is hard to see Martin Suji or Thomas Odoyo being left out of Kenya's bowling attack, but the rest of the bowlers are difficult to pick. Has Collins Obuya regained his form? If so, the experience he gained under Terry Jenner could give Kenya a very useful spin option to complement Tikolo, plus he has some experience. Alfred Luseno is a likely choice due to his speed. Andy Moles, who coached him at the training camp in South Africa, is of the opinion that he has the pace to regularly dismiss batsmen from Test nations. Kenya will need him to do this if we are to be competitive. That is about as far as I can predict with the little I know about the rest, and how they have fared so far in training. There should be around fifteen spots up for grabs, so there are plenty of places still unaccounted for. Looking at the make up of the provisional squad, I would not be surprised to see a few unfamiliar faces being given the chance to make their mark. If I had to choose the team myself, it would comprise:
Steve Tikolo (c), Kennedy Obuya (wk), Maurice Ouma, Tanmay Mishra, Charles Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Collins Obuya, Alfred Luseno, Martin Suji, Rajesh Bhudia, Ragab Aga, Malher Patel, Josephat Ababu, Ashish Karia, Amit Bhudia.

High Time ICC dealt with Zimbabwe

Zimabwe cricket continue to mess people around. Not only have they chopped short the Kenya visit, but are also giving the Bangladesh Cricket Board a headache in trying to organise the tri-series event bewteen the three countries.

While I appreciate the ICC stance of not interfering with internal affairs of members (I'm not saying I agree mind you), when actions impact on other countries, one would have thought the governing body could do more to prevent one country inflicting chaos on at least two others. It is about time the ICC stepped in and sorted this mess out. Someone has to.

IHSAN Sports To Sponsor Kenyan Cricket

Cricket Kenya today announced a clothing and equipment sponsorship deal with IHSAN Sports of Pakistan that will take them through until the World Cup 2007 in the West Indies. The contract is signed, and will cover the following teams:

1. Kenya National Cricket Team.

2. Kenya 'A' National Cricket Team.

3. Kenya U19 National Cricket Team.

4. Kenya U17 National Cricket Team.

5. Kenya U15 National Cricket Team.

IHSAN will provide a full kit for the teams including training gear, protective equipment, playing clothes for both forms of the game, as well as things such as bags and caps. In return, they will be the exclusive suppliers to Cricket Kenya of:
i. Replica wears.
ii. Development cricket gear and cricket balls.

ISHAN Sports will also benefit from having 4 No. Standards perimeter boards at all International matches played in Kenya.
The official signing of the contract will be held at Ruaraka Sports Club tomorrow afternoon as the Managing Director of IHSAN Sports is presently in Nairobi.

This is fantastic news for Kenyan cricket, and a real vindication for all the hard work that Cricket Kenya have been putting in over the last few months. However, while this takes up one of the main sponsorship slots, there are still some good ones out there if companies get a wriggle on. I'm thinking Drink Sponsor, Travel Sponsor to name just a couple. Get on board folks, this train is soon going to leave the station, and it could be a wonderful ride!