18 years ago, the Kenya national cricket team became the first non-test playing country to reach the World Cup semi finals. Ever since, things have not been well with the game doing so badly on the international scene.
Constant wrangles and power struggles within Cricket Kenya have led to the decline of the game that was fast becoming famous after the exploits of former players in the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Cricket enthusiasts in the country have now put out a plea to the game’s fraternity and the Government to save the game from further ruin.
The game’s governing body, Cricket Kenya set to hold a Special General Meeting on 21 March 2021 in a bid to resolve an impasse that has brought the local game to its knees.
“We are in this current state because of years of inept administration by Cricket Kenya, the body mandated to govern the game in the country,” said Nikil Sharma a cricket fan.
“It is further disheartening to note that there is nothing to show for the exploits of the period between 1996 and 2003 when Kenya worked its way to the apex of global cricket. We are even struggling to compete against the likes of Uganda and Namibia”, Kevin Otieno added.
“We have seen a set of individuals band together to run Kenyan cricket as if it were their personal property. They have consistently frustrated all efforts to reform the game and more importantly align Cricket Kenya to the Sports Act of 2013 which will ensure transparent and accountable administration of the game.”
“ We are now faced with a scenario where Cricket Kenya risks suspension from the International Cricket Council for failure to act on a notice issued by the ICC in 2018. It further risks having its conditional registration as a National Sports Organization revoked by the Sports Registrar,” said David Obuya, a former Kenyan international.
What happened in 2003?
Kenya co-hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup with South Africa. New Zealand boycotted the tournament citing insecurity in the country but that did not stop the local boys from storming to the last four.
Kenya started with a defeat to South Africa, but Kenya was on a roll after they beat Canada by four wickets.
Victories against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ensured progress for Steve Tikolo, Jimmy Kamande an co with the most outstanding perfomance being that against Sri Lanka in which they beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs after defending a low 210. They went on to thrash Zimbabwe by seven wickets with 24 overs to spares before losing to India in the semis by 91 runs.
The next two world cups (2007 and 2011) were a pale shadow of the previous achievement as the homeboys suffered heavy defeats against later on losing their ODI status after finishing last in the Super six of ICC world Cup Qualifier in 2014.
As if that was not enough, Kenya was relegated to ICC World Cricket League Division Two finishing fifth in ICC World cricket league championship.