Bentley memorial cricket tournament set for Rift Valley Club
The Rift Valley Sports Club, Nakuru. The Martin Bentley Memorial Twenty20 tournament will be held at the club on Sunday in memory of Bentley (inset), who died a year ago. He was instrumental in the development of cricket in Nakuru. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Bentley, who died a year ago, was instrumental in the development of the game in Nakuru, according to Peter Ong’ondo, a former Kenya’s opening fast medium bowler.
- Kenya finished in fourth position in the qualifiers and made it to the World Cup in Asia.
The Martin Bentley Memorial Twenty20 tournament will be held at the Rift Valley Sports Club on Sunday.
Bentley, who died a year ago, was instrumental in the development of the game in Nakuru, according to Peter Ong’ondo, a former Kenya’s opening fast medium bowler. ”It was Bentley who got me employed by Cricket Kenya as an elite coach for Nakuru,” Ong’ondo said.
“The league in Nakuru seems to have died with Bentley. We used to have a team from Kisumu and another one from Eldoret which joined seven sides from Nakuru in a rigorous four months Twenty20 league running from July to October,” he lamented. He added: “The national women’s squad also took part in the league. The girls were hosted by Bentley at the Greensteads International School, where he was the head teacher.”
“Running a successful league required a dedicated person like Bentley,”. said Ong’ondo.
FINISHED FOURTH
He remembered how Bentley, who was also a board member of Cricket Kenya, organised a four- day team building exercise for the national squad at the Malewa Camp in 2009, a few months before the side left for South Africa to take part in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers.
Kenya finished in fourth position in the qualifiers and made it to the World Cup in Asia.
Ong’ondo also said that it was through Bentley’s initiative that two Astroturf was laid at both Nakuru Day Secondary School and Menengai Primary School. He said that development of the game has taken root in Nakuru, thanks to Bentley. They now have 12 secondary schools and 20 primary schools playing the game.
The squads taking part in the memorial tournament are: CK Chairperson XI: Joseph Angara, Collins Obuya, Hiren Varaiya, Luke Nightingale, Adrian Radclifee, Rajab Ali, David Asiji, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Shem Obado, Emmanuel Budi, Lukas Ndandason, Martin Suji and Peter Ong’ondo.
Captains XI: David Waters, Steve Tikolo, Chris Sterling, Dion Haigh, Michael Raikes, Dalvir Hunjan, Arfhan Mughal, Thomas Odoyo, Lameck Onyango, Morris Ouma, Dominic Wesonga and Tom Tikolo.
