Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
14 March 2011
opinion
If the majority of Kenyan cricket lovers choose to be dismissive of the Kenyan team at the ongoing World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, they could perhaps spare a moment to ponder over remarks made by former Kenya captain Steven Tikolo.
He notes that the sport has abundant talent going to waste because those who have been entrusted with the job of running the game have wasted opportunities to grow it.
From a country that beat the West Indies in 1996, India in 1998 and 2001 and then in that memorable run in 2003 when we made it to the World Cup semi-final in South Africa by claiming the scalps of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Canada, we are now at the bottom of the heap.
Tikolo says after those mind-boggling achievements money was literally poured in by the International Cricket Council for development. The goal was to make Kenya the 11th Test cricket playing country after England, New Zealand, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
What happened to that money? There has been no development or structures put in place to broaden the access of facilities to those who love the game and want to play for this country. Cricket remains a community and private club affair where even use of facilities by the Kenya team is only dependent on acts of philanthropy by the clubs. The majority of players who would like to take up the game have no starting point. Where do we go from here?
“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” Albert Einstein was a Physicist born on March 14 1879.
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