Kenya's cricket lords keep dropping catches

It has been a week of hits and misses, and one of the misses was on a personal level: I did not pen this column last Monday because I was on the road.

Those who follow my ramblings online know that one of the biggest hits was Pakistan; My Pakistan winning the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy after beating their neighbours and arch-rivals India by 180 runs.

India must be wondering how they collapsed considering that going into the eight-nation tournament, they were sure they would successfully defend the title. Pakistan were the lowest ranked and in their first match, they lost to India and were written off.

But Pakistan bounced back and beat South Africa and Sri Lanka, to qualify for the semis where they humbled a hitherto unbeaten England, who are yet to win a major ICC 50-overs tournament.

Pakistan made one of the biggest comebacks in cricketing history and bowled out India for 158 in 30.3 overs. What makes Pakistan's win unique and inspiring is that the country has been ostracised by the cricketing world, including its neighbour, India.

No other nation has had their cricketers on the wrong side of ethics in the past 10 years than Pakistan. No cricketing nation wants to tour Pakistan due to, ahem, terrorism, and United Arab Emirates has become their home.

Kenya and Sri Lanka understand being snubbed because of terrorism or strife. During the 1996 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, some teams refused to play in Sri Lanka, but Kenya played there.

During the 2003 Cricket World Cup, hosted by South Africa with some matches in Kenya and Zimbabwe, New Zealand felt Nairobi was not safe, but Sri Lanka returned the favour and came.

In 1996, Sri Lanka beat the odds and emerged victors and in 2003, Kenya had a fairy tale run, and beat Sri Lanka in Nairobi on their way to the semis, their last stop. Then the downward spiral started.

Had Kenya continued to play with a straight bat, Pakistan could have made Kenya their home, and the benefits could have been enormous.

In 2008, when Pakistan started becoming "unsafe", a Pakistan State Oil-sponsored tournament was brought to Nairobi, and what was initially a two-nation affair between Pakistan and Australia became a triangular series.

The beneficiaries were Kenyan cricket in general, and cricketers in particular because they were getting paid by both the local body and organisers. Above all, they got a chance to play against boys in the big league.

Instead of taking advantage of such rare opportunities to advance their collective cause, Kenya has been busy holding pity parties, living in denial and in the past and seeing hurdles and problems everywhere.

In the meantime, other forward-looking cricketing nations, such as Ireland and Afghanistan were thinking ahead, and last week, ICC awarded them a full membership status, leaving Kenya in the lowest rungs of the game.

Aided by successive governments, which do not play with a straight bat when it comes to sports, and which are loud on talk, Kenya's cricketing lords have largely been hitting their own wickets.

This rotten attitude towards sports is not confined to the crease.

Federations and government officials are more keen on going for foreign trips and pocketing allowances than helping sports persons.

The writer is an editor with the Weekend editions of Standard.