Groaning, Not Growling

It is encouraging to know that former Windies all-rounder Roger Harper has been appointed the new Kenyan cricket coach. Harper was best known for his fielding finesse, apart from his tight off-spin and more than effective lower order hittings, especially in the limited overs format. The south-east African giant minnows should benefit from his street smart cricket sense. But the real problem for the African lions lies in their lack of exposure to top-class international cricket. Their problems have been multiplied by all-rounder Maurice Odumbe’s involvement in cricket betting scandal. It is dubious and disheartening fact since Kenya’s phenomenal run in the ICC World Cup, this scandal has been the only major cricket news involving Kenya. They were outperformed at the Sharjah tournament following the last World Cup. Their performance at the last ICC Champions Trophy was eminently forgettable. And that is just about it, though one of their World Cup heroes, Colins Obuya did create a few odd ripples at the English county championships. It seems that after the current lot of the likes of Ravindu Shah, Kennedy Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Maurice Odumbe, Hitesh Modi, Thomas Odoyo, Colins Obuya, Martin Suji, Asif Karim, among others, Kenyan cricket has not much to speak off. Kenya is virtually a perpetual absentee at the various junior level international cricket meets. This is all the more disturbing, since apart from Scotland, and Ireland to some extent, Kenya happens to be the only top ICC Associate member to boast of more natives in their team than players migrating from Test-playing nations. The world cricket apex body should address the problems of the upcoming cricketing nations better. Not only the hardcore cricketing loopholes be set right, the administrative and infrastructural shortcomings should also be taken care of. Otherwise, ‘globalization of cricket’ will remain a misnomer.