It’s a sticky wicket on all ends for Kenya

Jackie Janmohamed (in blue dress) presents sports kits to Under 19 crickets players, Sachin Bluidia captain (second left) Maxwell Ager, Aman Gandhi, Rene and their coach Jimmy Kamande(Left)at Simba union on 22nd December 2017. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Local cricket enthusiasts can only hope that 2020 will be a year of revival for Kenya’s once successful sport.

The events of 2019 paint a bleak picture of a once-revered cricketing nation that has now become a pale shadow of its former self.

From brushing shoulders with cricket bigwigs like India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies South Africa, Australia and England in several International Cricket Council (ICC) events including the World Cup, Kenya is now losing to the likes of Italy.

Kenya’s fall from glory to its current status has shocked many locally and globally.

In fact, it is difficult to convince those who were too young or born after the 2003 ICC World Cup that Kenya reached the semi-finals and finished among the top four in the global showpiece.

That Maurice Odumbe, Steve Tikolo, Martin Suji, Thomas Odoyo, Tony Suji, Kennedy Obuya, Asif Karim, Hitesh Modi, Peter Ongondo and the younger Collins Obuya were once household names internationally sounds too good to be true if Kenya’s recent performances are anything to go by.

The current crop of players have fallen short of keeping the bar high and are little-known or not known at all, as Kenyan cricket continues to cry for help.

Players are, however, not solely responsible for the sad state as poor leadership has denied them an environment to thrive.

This year, things moved from bad to worse as off-pitch politics took centre stage bringing the sport down to its knees. So bad was it that even the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) ran their affairs.

NPCA’s inability to function well saw several leagues grind to a halt leaving players with nothing to hang onto as far as cricket activities are concerned.

For the love of the game, clubs would come together to form the inaugural Nairobi Invitational Cricket League (NICL).

The NICL turned out to be the only positive thing to have happened in 2019 as it gave players a platform to nurture their talents and remain active even as officials continued to push for positions in the management of cricket.

NICL ran a successful T20 and 50 Overs competitions for three divisions. It was even more organised and appealing as top performers were awarded trophies and cash prizes.

Even so, trouble continued to brew at Cricket Kenya as players and officials complained of poor preparations for international assignments with delayed salaries and allowances not helping the situation.

Cricket Kenya's shortcomings would also result in national men’s teams selection drama for the ICC T20 World Cup global qualifiers held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in August and last month’s Cricket World Cup Challenge staged in Oman. 

Many were shocked by CK selectors' criteria in picking the team, which saw the inclusion of 46-year-old Lameck Onyango and Jadavji Bhimji for the Oman trip.

Onyango then made a shock return with many faulting the selectors and accusing them of shortsightedness for failing to give younger players a chance.

To many critics, the selectors were only concerned with getting quick results.  

The selectors' decision bore no fruit as Kenya finished 11th in the 14-team Dubai contest while in Oman, they were placed fifth having won only one match only. Uganda won the six-team challenge unbeaten.

In May, the Sports Disputes Tribunal gave a directive that elections were necessary following a split in the sport. The elections were not well received by many, thus paving way for the return of Jackie Janmohammed as Cricket Kenya President.

Janmohammed had resigned from the post in 2018, which led to the formation of an Interim Committee by the then Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa.

While all this was happening, the women suffered the most as they were forgotten for the better part of the year.