Obuyas, Tikolos and Odoyo need support

There seems to be a problem with Sri Lanka and India, the two Asian sides which have previously won the Cricket World Cup.

Nothing seems to be working and the country which seems to be on a roll is Pakistan, which, ironically, cannot even play its home matches at home.

India is performing poorly in Australia and in South Africa, Sri Lanka has just failed to click, if what happened during the first ODI was anything to go by – just after they had lost a Test series 2-1.

Of course Indian and Sri Lanka cricket officials are scratching their heads and wondering what is going on – and it is certain that they are trying to find ways of making things work so they can get back to their winning ways.

Cricket mad nation

Ordinary Indians and Sri Lankans must be very disappointed with and probably even affected by what is happening in Australia and South Africa, considering that cricket is more than a game in both these countries, or generally in the region and Bangladesh which is still not considered a heavyweight being an equally cricket mad nation.

Indian fans in Kenya have equally been a disappointed lot, and whenever I get a chance, I rub salt in to their wounds by reminding them that the only team in Asia worth supporting is Pakistan because it rarely disappoints.

While fans of India and Sri Lanka are getting disappointed, those who follow local cricket have got used to disappointment so much so that even when the national team loses, they never drown their sorrows because that is the norm.

Blame games or name-calling

Of course no one likes a losing side, or even likes to lose every time they have a chance to play, but Kenya’s loses are far too many and unless a (winning) formula is found soon, then fans of Kenya cricket can just accept their fate and stop engaging in blame games or name-calling when the team fails to perform well.

Apparently, no one seems to know what the problem is, and it seems like nobody cares to know because the losing streak has continued for long, and if there was any interest, by now a reason, or a solution could have been found, and a rare win here and there could have been registered.

In as much as it can be said that Cricket Kenya is trying all the methods in the book to bring back the confidence, more needs to be done since the results so far speak for themselves – and the excuses keep on rolling.

To be fair, Kenya’s weekend 300-plus runs scored against Andhra Pradesh are a positive indicator, with David Obuya bouncing back with a fine century.

Even though it has not worked in football locally, but is doing wonders for a football team like Barcelona, a youth academy might seem like the right thing because it will allow CK to focus on the future, a long term process which will not give instant results, but will eventually produce champions.

It is all about going back to the drawing board, but it seems that is what the powers that be fear, and everyone who assumes office wants to be credited with taking cricket to greater heights instantly, but ends up falling flat because of lack of strategy.

School programme

Cost becomes the first excuse when such a thing is mentioned, but has it ever been tried by the national office?
Hold it right there! I know there is a school development programme, but is it working?

Naturally, running cricket academies might be expensive, but Obuya brothers in Nairobi and Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo in Mombasa are living examples that with determination, and focus on the future, these academies where those who are keen on playing the game can learn all aspects of cricket, including discipline, are actually viable.