Good news awaits Kenya’s cricket if they don’t drop catches

There is good news —and other news. Especially for those Kenyans whose shrine is a crease and who believe that you cannot be on the back foot, or on a sticky wicket, and neither can you be hit for six, stumped, bowled, caught, run out, trapped leg before, if you are playing with a straight bat.

Kenyans, and generally sports lovers, who swear by the gods of cricket...those who count their blessing by the number of wickets they have taken, or the number of runs they have hit and balls they have faced, must be smiling all the way from the pavilion because of the news from one South African gentleman.

Spirit of 1966

Richardson. Dave Richardson, for that is his name, is a former South African cricketer and currently, the boss of the other ICC from which no African country wants to withdraw.

International Cricket Council boss, this Richardson man, says “the time is right” for cricket, yes cricket, to apply for a place at the Olympics. His idea is not so new though, for cricket was once played in the Games in 1900 and England took the gold after beating France.

Such a long time, you might say and that is probably why you never hear, like they do with football, the British being nostalgic about the “Spirit of ‘66,” the year when they beat Germany to lift the Fifa World Cup.

There is no point in reminding you that the British have never won the Cricket World Cup, even though they introduced the game to the world.

But I digress.

The ICC, under the stewardship of Richardson, who made 164 appearances for South Africa in Tests and One Day Internationals, is now more than ever convinced that “an Olympic Twenty20 tournament is the key to growing the game beyond its traditional market.”

That view is reinforced by the popularity of Sevens Rugby at the Rio Olympic Games last year.

“We need to make a decision by July so we can make an application in time for September when the International Olympic Committee will consider new sports for the 2024 Games,” Richardson said at, wait for it, Wembley Stadium (this jokes about the British keep writing themselves) on Wednesday last week.

He added that preliminary talks with IOC have already taken place. “I think the majority of the members and certainly myself, think the time is right and we have come to the conclusion that the overall benefit to the game, in terms of globalising and growing it, outweighs any negatives. So I am hoping.”

That cricket is being considered for inclusion in the Olympics should be good news for Kenya which is in the back foot and is struggling to make it to the other global cricketing showpiece, the Cricket World Cup, which involves the biggest hitters, who keep moving the boundary ropes, when it comes to qualification procedures.

But it would be wrong, or not right for Kenya to blame the big hitters for continuously changing the qualification path because Kenya had it all, but kept dropping catches, (in cricket, catches win matches) and subsequently lost the glorified One Day status and was relegated to the lower ranks where also money just trickles in, further complicating matters because sponsors are hard to come by.

That is the other news. Those who follow cricketing activities in Kenya keep getting miffed at the situation in the country’s creases because they feel that little is being done by Cricket Kenya to make the game appetising for corporates who can consider putting the name on the Kenyan uniform.

Should cricket be included in the Olympics, then the Kenyan game might get a chance to receive some largesse from the government too, and above all, the country’s development projects might get some life and embark on long term planning because time will be on its side.

IOC is inclusive

I do not want to get in to any argument that cricket is elitist because the IOC is inclusive and Olympic Games have more elitist, exclusive and little-known and understood disciplines in which very few countries send participants.

But if golf is an Olympics sport, it is pointless to engage in an argument about elitist sports disciplines.

Kenya has been more prolific at the Olympic Games and should hope that IOC gives it a chance at bagging more medals by voting in favour of including cricket in the Games.

But sometimes, hope is not enough and Kenya’s sports officials, who are in the IOC executive committee, should also support this move — at least it will give them another chance to line their pockets with money meant for Team Kenya during the Olympic Games.

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

 

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