It was a week of tears in cricket and why Okumbi needs training

Stanley Okumbi

There is a problem, from Australia to Zimbabwe and while Down Under people are shedding tears in public, in southern Africa, public displays of remorse are rare because the pain is too much to bear.

Around two weeks ago, Zimbabwe failed to qualify for next year’s Cricket World Cup after losing to United Arab Emirates during the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

It was painful to watch the second African side which could have made it to the World Cup go down to a side which was playing for pride. But losing was not the most painful bit. It is thought — and probably there is precedence — that Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify does not bode well for its cricket because they will miss several opportunities.

Well, I have no idea how bad it can get because I am writing from a country where cricket, the Gentleman’s Game, as it were, exists as a word and not a sport because it has reached its nadir.

While the southern Africans were still wiping their tears in private, across the border in South Africa, Australians were giving a new meaning to scratching the ball by participating in the dark arts of ball tampering.

The act of the Australian cricketers during the third Test gives credence to the fact that Australia was a Penal Colony. For real, there is no perfect crime, and neither there are clever criminals since it beats logic how the cricketers thought they could escape without being seen by the whole world in 2018 when cricket matches are covered by at least 18 high definition cameras whose lenses can capture a strand of hair 100m away.

The captain, who officially resigned yesterday, the former vice-captain and the junior player were sent back home and the former captain cried, in public, as if he did not know that what he was doing was wrong.

Their despicable act has earned them long bans from cricket and the coach will also resign after the fourth Test that started on Friday.

It is safer to say that in some countries, people take responsibility for their actions and when they are caught with their hands in their crotches, they do not blame others.

 

Talk is always cheaper

While Australians are stuck with the ignominy of the ball tampering saga, nearer home, Kenyans are still wondering whether cricket will stop being just a word and start being a sport.

After Kenya dropped catches and got demoted to a lower division, a group of local cricket lovers want to restore some pride on the Kenyan crease. Yeah. We have been here before. There is nothing wrong with being happy for these “stakeholders” because they mean well but experience has shown that in Kenya, when it comes to sports, talk is always cheaper — and many a time the loudest people tend to think they are always right.

Every sports administrator in Kenya talks, and when they are done talking, they talk some more, but when it comes to action, they do the same things that never brought any positive results. And when they are asked why, they talk more.

For over five years, the country’s football administrators have been talking about CHAN, Nations Cup and the World Cup and how the dim, dimmer, dimwitted Harambee Stars will qualify for all or atleast one of them.

The previous office spent almost all its time talking about that. To be fair, they also spent considerable amount of time calling me names and saying that I killed Kenyan cricket and I wanted to kill football too.

The new office came in and started talking. And the new office was not just talking, but talking big, and after all was said, they appointed Stanley Okumbi as the national coach.

Nothing wrong with appointing a local coach, but when the chap is an expert in draws and getting hailed with phrases like “unbeaten run” makes people go home happy, then something is terribly wrong.

The federation felt that things were not working and they hired a foreign coach — and Stanley Okumbi, the King of Draws was made his assistant.

Fast forward, the foreign coach left, and Okumbi got back his job, and last week, he was sent to the Under 20 side yet his incapability and inabilities are known.

What crime did these young men commit that they have to be punished by making Okumbi their coach? Then again, why is Okumbi being punished by being made a coach of a young side that needs more nurturing, proper training and mentoring?

Okumbi has done his bit, and the federation should be grateful — and the best gift they can give him is sending him for a coaching course because he badly needs that.

By Stephen Rutto 49 mins ago
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