Kenya: Team Yet to Enter Camp Ahead of Tie

Clay Muganda

17 July 2011

Nairobi — For the past few weeks, I have been receiving all sorts of messages from different people concerning Kenyan cricket and the Cricket Kenya Board, and for a moment, you might think that eventually, someone is communicating and telling us what we really want to know, what we should know or what we did not know.

The national women’s team coach has been steadfast in updating the media about the progress of his charges, its matches and upcoming fixtures.

Then there have been reports concerning courses of the umpires and scorers, sent in by the cool, calm and collected David “Pamba” Odhiambo, a darling of the media who as a scorer used to supply the media with what can only qualify as information overload back in the days when Kenya used to face the big boys of international cricket at the Nairobi Gymkhana.

The good old days, you can call them. But in as much as we can’t change history, we cannot continue living in the past and we need to focus on the future which currently looks bleak, even as people with no idea of what is happening on the ground keep berating the local media, saying we are not only wrong but also misguided on the state of local cricket.

It is an open secret that things are bad, and to say that local cricket has gone to the dogs is an insult to man’s best friend.

Even though it is true, some might even say that it might be an insult to the scavenger birds by saying that local cricket has gone to the vultures.

The Kenya under-19 side, which we once thought carried Kenya’s hopes crashed in Uganda last week after CK did what it does best; fumbled and bumbled in the selection, and sent it to play in the ICC World Cricket League Africa Region Division One Twenty20 Championships against better selected sides.

The under-19 side beat Nigeria in the playoffs and settled for the third place, after initially losing to Namibia, Uganda and the same Nigeria, and registering a win only against Ghana.

Team unprepared

Back at home, the national men’s side which is planned to face the United Arab Emirates in Nairobi in the ICC Intercontinental Cup from next week is not training yet, and the biggest question remains when they will start, considering that even the selection panel is not fully constituted and there is still no team captain, only an acting coach.

To make matters worse, the contract imbroglio pitting some players against the CK Board has not been sorted out, and this seems to have affected even those who made the cut, hence the no-show at the training grounds.

Meanwhile, the CK Board’s head honchos are keeping stiff upper lips, and have neither given an indication of what their next course of action is nor said when the coach will be appointed. They have also not indicated when the coach will start working with the national side, despite earlier information that shortlisting has been done.

As things stand now, Kenyans should get ready for another streak of loses suffered by the men’s team – unless CK Board pulls a rabbit out of a helmet and brings in foreign players, an act which will not go down well with the local players and might not even help revive Kenya’s fortunes.

AllAfrica – All the Time