Foreign stars to grace T20 tourney at Ruaraka Club
Former Kenyan international Thomas Odoyo at the press briefing at Ruraraka on August 19. 2020.
What you need to know:
- The inaugural 2018 tournament attracted teams from Indian, Tanzania and Nepal. Odoyo has said they have adopted franchise format to enhance competition. Mombasa Simba Academy won the inaugural tournament after beating Royal Cricket Academy from India in the final.
- The winners will pocket Sh300,000, with runners-up going home Sh150,000 richer. Man-of-the-match in each game will get Sh5,000.
Organisers of the second edition of the Prime Tanks Simba Premier League (SPL) due September 10 to 19 at Ruaraka Sports Club are planning a bigger tournament.
The clubs tournament has been transformed to a franchise and will feature six teams. International players from Sri Lanka and Pakistan will grace the event.
Besides Pakistan and Sri Lanka providing four internationals each for the event, the tournament’s deputy director, former Kenyan international Thomas Odoyo, disclosed Wednesday that five player from Indian Premier League (IPL) will also play at the Twenty20 format event.
Odoyo said names of the international players will be disclosed in due course, adding that those from IPL have committed to attend and will be distributed to the franchises.
Odoya was speaking during the launch of the tournament at Ruaraka Sports Club. He was accompanied by tournament director Manoj Patel and committee members, former internationals Jimmy Kamande and Peter Ongóndo, and Tom Mboya.
The franchises are Amboseli Hirani Telkom (to be captained by Kamande), Kilimanjaro Daman Ganga (led by another former Kenya captain Maurice Ouma), and Mara Texas Alarms that has Rushab Patel as its leader.
Others are Shem Ngoche’s Samburu Prime Tanks, Serengeti Dezo Construction led by Elijah Otieno and Nelson Odhiambo’s Tsavo Glory Hotels.
The players from IPL are prolific right-handed batman and former Indian cricketer Paul Valthaty who played for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, bowler Sidhharth Trivedi who played for the Rajasthan Royals, and opening bowler Manpreet Singh Gony who featured for Chennai Super Kings.
Also coming for the tournament are all-rounders Asad Pathan who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions’ Shadab Jakati.
The inaugural 2018 tournament attracted teams from Indian, Tanzania and Nepal. Odoyo has said they have adopted franchise format to enhance competition. Mombasa Simba Academy won the inaugural tournament after beating Royal Cricket Academy from India in the final.
The winners will pocket Sh300,000, with runners-up going home Sh150,000 richer. Man-of-the-match in each game will get Sh5,000.
