Kenya: Cricket Team Start World Cup Campaign Today in Ireland

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Dun Okinyo

28 July 2011

Kenyas’ quest to make it to their maiden U-19 cricket World Cup in 10 years starts in earnest against Vanuatu in Ireland today. A win in the first of nine one-matches would be a good start, given the team’s preparation. The home boys carry with them a third place finish in the ICC Africa regional Twenty20 tournament. On paper, Kenyans have plenty of firepower but this qualifier is about getting the big players in form, and in the right batting positions.

Kenya captain Ken Owino said there would be a degree of experimenting as they search for a balanced line-up that will catapult them to the World Cup, that has eluded Kenya five times. “The responsibility to qualify is with every player in this team. We are counting on everyone to do the job be it batsmen or bowlers,” he said. Kenya will once again rely on batting line-up of Duncan Allan, Irfan Karim and Rushab Patel. “I don’t think we want to get too carried away by trying other things.

The most important thing is for us to win. We will be flexible with the bowlers because the conditions may vary but we need to be sure of the batting order as we head into the first game. That’s very important,” he said. Kenya qualified for the global qualifiers after finishing second in the Africa region qualifiers last year, behind winners Namibia.

Owino expressed satisfaction with the training the team has been undergoing and exuded confidence of qualifying for World Cup. “We have been in training for a very long time and we have been improving with every session. We are physically and mentally strong and hope to improve.”

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