Kenyan cricket hopes for better days ahead

Kenyan cricket hopes for better days ahead
Agence France Presse

NAIROBI, OCTOBER 20: The dust may have settled after a highly successful ICC knock-out trophy tournament ended here last Sunday, but doubts have been expressed over whether Kenyan cricket achieved anything from staging one of the greatest sporting showpieces on the continent.

Already most of the competitors have drifted away and are competing in different tournaments around the world.

Losing finalists India, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka headed for the triangular tournament being played in Sharjah, while the newly-crowned ICC champions New Zealand, the surprise packages of the Nairobi tournament, along with Bangladesh, are in South Africa for a series of international matches.

Pakistan are hosting England, while the West Indies are set to tour Australia.

In fact, there is no time for these teams to rest on their laurels in between the competitions.

However, this does not apply to the ICC knock-out host Kenya, who have been left without any international events in the immediate future.

Yet Kenya is a young cricketing Nation, the only one with One-Day International (ODI) status, and needs such matches for international exposure and experience in their effort to catch up with the world's more advanced cricketing Nations.

Kenya Cricket Association (KCA) chairman Jimmy Rayani explained: ``There is no doubt that the boys gained a lot from taking part in the ICC Trophy, but without playing more of those matches against the bigger teams we will not progress.''

Rayani and his National governing body may have taken credit for a well-organised tournament, but cricket observers believe they are still to blame for the lack of development of the game in the country.

Since Kenya's elevation to ODI status three years ago, the KCA has implemented little change in the approach and application of the game. One of the requirements of being granted ODI is introducing the players to three-day games, which is only applied when Kenya plays a touring Test side.

Another major reason is the apathy towards cricket among indigenous Kenyans. Despite the influx of Africans into the game, cricket in Kenya is still regarded as an elitist sport run and managed only by members of the Asian and European communities.

Lack of knowledge for the sport among Kenyans, who still love the two traditional Sports, athletics and football, was blamed for the poor spectator turn-out during the knock-out trophy.

Neverthless, following the initative of the ICC, through its Development Programme, there have been plans to expand its scope far and wide. It was recently introduced in some of the secondary schools in Nairobi and the Indian Ocean Port city of Mombasa.

Thanks to Kenya's steady rise in cricket, following two appearances in the cricket World Cup in 1996 and 1999, the ICC selected the country to host the ICC knock-out trophy.

The ICC spent about four million dollars to upgrade the facilities, including the refurbishment of the Nairobi Gymkhana Club. The maintenance of the huge structure, which would run to thousands of shillings monthly is not only of great concern to the KCA, but also to sports lovers in the country.Already there are worries that it would suffer the same fate as the expansive Moi International Sports Centre at Kasarani, about 16 kilometres north of the capital.

Built with support from the Chinese government to host the Fourth All-Africa Games in 1987, it now stands as an empty shell after the equipment and other facilities were vandalised and stolen.

It was only recently that the Chinese builders moved back to restore the buildings, some of which were on the verge of collapse.

Rayani is hopeful that with the asssurances from the leading cricket Nations to visit Kenya in the new year, the Nairobi Gymkhana Club would stage several international matches.

Pakistan and West Indies cricket officials pledged to organise friendly games between their teams next year and the KCA is also hoping to stage some of the 2003 World Cup matches. Officials of the South African organising committee visited Kenya two weeks ago to inspect the facilities and a decision will be made in the next fortnight.