Kenya cricket now on it’s deathbed

• With no league and development programmes, the local game is dying

Time is up. Cricket Kenya have nowhere to hide now.

The performance of the Kenya team since Samir Inamdar and his group took over the association has been steadily going down.

From World Cup semi-finalists in 2003, Kenya has been on nose dive. The loss to Ireland early this week in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Intercontintental Cup match marked another low point in Kenya’s cricket.

It comes after an extremely humbling experience against a Pakistan Academy team, which thrashed us 2-0 in a two-match series of four-day games, winning one of them by an innings. The Pakistanis followed it up with a 3-0 whipping of their hosts in the one-day series.

Before that, there had been the Australian Academy cadets who came here last year and walked all over the national team. It is feared even Uganda could now beat Kenya.

The game is on its knees. As the top associate member of the ICC, it is worrying that Kenya has not won this First Class competition, now in its fourth edition. The team’s failure in the multi-day game can be attributed to lack of a first class league in the country.

Big talk

Inamdar and his team told Kenyans they had sponsors waiting in the wings to put money into the game when the defunct Kenya Cricket Association officials left office.

There was big talk about how they would introduce a three-day league, among other things. Was it just the usual electioneering talk?

The only sponsorship for local cricket came via a South Africa company named Sahara Computers. The Saraha Elite league, which they supported, featured Twenty20, one-day 50 over games and a two-day league. It is still unknown if the winners ever received their cash rewards.

Apart from the listless action from the Nairobi Province Cricket Association (NPCA) league, there has been no domestic cricket in the country this year.

The Kenyan cricket board could be the only national sports organisation that does not run a league in the world, and one with only two active branches — Coast Cricket Association (CCA) and the NPCA.

CK inherited some semblance of a development programme in Nairobi — complete with coaches who used to go around schools in Nairobi coaching children. The programme died. The national academy built at the Simba Union Club by ICC funds is now idle.

Such is the sorry state of our development cricket that Kenya has not been to the Under-19 Cricket World Cup — ICC’s premier development tournament — since 2001.

Then, Kenya only took part because they were exempted from qualification. Ever since Kenya was subjected to qualifying tournaments, the team has never been to this tournament.

Then there is the matter of an ‘A’ team, a crucial feature in any cricket-playing country because it is a major link between the main national team and the development sides. Kenya has none.

The usual excuse of lack of funds is what CK offers for its inability to get its programmes moving.

However, the officials were elected to find money to run the game and to improve on the huge image that Kenya cricket had built in 2003. If the chairman and his team cannot find the money, they have no business running the association.

CK have done great in clearing Kenya’s image in the cricket circles internationally, but they have failed to uplift the morale of the players.

Residential training

Kenya’s cricket team could be the only one in the country that takes part in crucial games without going to residential camp. During the just-concluded game against Ireland, players were meeting in the ground in the morning from their respective homes.

One wonders when the coach and players plan for the next day’s game when the first thing on the players’ mind is how to reach home safely.

The players must be applauded for giving their all in very difficult circumstances. They have been let down by the Cricket Kenya board.

Inamdar and his team owes the players and Kenyans an explanation for the sorry state of Kenyan cricket.

If CK does not have money to take care of the players during international assignment there is no need of bringing matches in the country as results are likely to be negative. Even when they are able to get some teams