How to rape a sport: By the ICC Chief Executive's Comittee

Sometimes bad decisions are made in sport for puportedly good reasons. Sometimes bad decisions are made purely through greed and an ability to trample roughshod over those with less power. The ICC Chief Executives' Committee decision to recommend a reduction in the number of World Cup teams to 14 is one of the latter decisions. It is a decision that has no regard for the future well being of the sport, purely for the short term interest of the powerful few who currently hold the reins.

For those unacquainted with the reasons behind the decision, in the last World Cup Ireland provided some of the few moments of interest when they played out of their skins along the way to eliminating Pakistan from the tournament in the initial stage. Because the bungling fools at the ICC had scheduled too long a World Cup and because they needed a scapegoat, they were happy to fuel the notion put forward by Pakistan that there were too many teams in the World Cup and hence it diluted the standard and made it a boring affair.

In actual fact, what diluted the standard of the World Cup was teams such as Pakistan playing well below par and the ICC looking purely at the $$$ behind playing only one match a day and then having an overly long second stage to the tournament. Because of this, the Associates, who have by the way done everything asked of them by the ICC and more (despite ludicrously low income from the ICC and little real support), are penalised. All because certain Test teams were not good enough to beat some of the ever improving Associates.

This from the very organisation that claims to be pushing so hard to expand the game globally. What a bunch of horseshit. Today we saw a very clear indication of what the nations at the top of the pile have in view for World Cricket and it is very much a case of the rich get richer and sod the poor. No wonder cricket cannot get a true foothold outside the established nations and if this sort of attitude persists it will not be a surprise if it starts to lose ground even within that inner sanctum.

So often we hear the ICC go on about players being fined for bringing the game into disrepute. How hypocritical. Off all the things that have tainted the game, most come either directly from the ICC, such as this decision, or get exacerbated by their handling of it. If I were a player and was fined, I reckon I would counter sue in the International Court of Sports Arbitration. A just jury would not have to think too hard about who has done the game more damage.

There are over 100 countries that play cricket. Only 10 of them play Test cricket and of those 10, at least 2 are only just better than the Associates, if they are that. Numbers of players in most of the leading Associates are growing in leaps and bounds and their standard of play is improving all the time. Given the right opportunities against the Test sides, they would likely be more than competitive come the World Cup. Instead they are kept on the outside, playing only against each other and are then penalised when they break into the inner circle and upset the odds to beat one of the Test teams when the World Cup does come around.

Today makes me ashamed to be a follower of cricket and angry to be a supporter of a minority that deserve better support rather than the betrayal served up by the I$C$C - may the fleas of a million camels infest their armpits and infect them with every nasty disease there is!

STOP THIS MADNESS!

In the recently concluded and much disputed general election, the majority of Kenyas who voted chose either Mwai Kibaki or Raila Odinga as their preferred president. Who actually won the election is doubtful. It looked like Odinga, but could well have been Kibaki. If the Electoral Commission themselves admit they 'Do not know', how can anyone be sure?

What we can be sure of is that in the days since, both men have done plenty to show Kenyans and the World that neither deserve to be president of our beloved country. Kibaki's actions in accepting a dubious result and then being sworn in immediately after the election and Odinga's in the manner of his protests and refusal to even attempt to address this in an adult or legal manner have only lead to bloodshed, not to sorting out of a problem that should have been addressed in a sensible and straightforward manner. Like spoilt children in a sweetshop they have tried to grab everything for themselves without thought to what damage they do in the process. Unlike the losses of the sweetshop owner however, the losses in this case have been human lives.

A question for these 2 so called 'honorable' gentlemen: How many INNOCENT Kenyans have to die before you see sense? How many deaths can you justify on your path to State House? If the answer was even 1, you do not deserve to be president and yet the death toll stands at over 500. Even as more Kenyans die, you still have not met face to face.

This is stupidity - and I use the word purposefully knowing the much stronger connotations it has in Kenya than in the West. Neither of your communities can benefit from the bloodshed and chaos that this crisis brings to Kenya. Both need peace to prosper or even survive and your continued apathy toward human life is a disgrace. If you cannot at least bring peace to Kenya for the sake of the country, at least bring peace for the sake of your own peoples. If you don't there will soon be nothing left for you to fight over anyway.

I have not cried for a long time, but I cry now for a country I love and can see being ripped apart by the greed and betrayal of men who were elected so that they could serve the people. While the average Kenyan on the streets is facing a month where he or she will struggle to pay bills, feed their families or pay for their children to go to school because of the damage done to the economy through the instability, Kenyan MPs will still take home their wages from an annual salary of 800 million shillings. Until the mess is sorted out and peace restored so that Kenyans can live their lives without fear, you deserve not even 8 cents. For the sake of all Kenyans, stop this madness before it is too late.

If and when Kenya returns to stability, I will continue my thoughts on cricket. In the meanwhile, to all Kenyans everywhere: May you live in peace in this evil time. Whoever you are and whatever tribe you may come from remember that you are Kenyan and lived happily alonside your fellow Kenyans until the politicians stirred up this hatred for their own ends. Remember that peace. Cherish it and nurture it so our country can prosper once again.

The gap is closing

Yesterday Kenya Under 15s went down in a hard fought match to Uganda to finish second in the regional championship. It was not a bad effort from the team and they showed plenty of potential during the tournament. Earlier in the year, the Under 19 team missed out on qualifying for the World Cup when they were beaten by Namibia. In Denmark's recent tour of Kenya where they played a variety of development teams including Kenya A, they left the country unbeaten.
These are not good signs.

During the recent stakeholders meeting, it was noted that standards in the NPCA league are dropping. Despite all the infighting and politicking that goes on, the NPCA are still the only body organising regular and competitive cricket. As far as I am aware (and it is not through want of trying for information) little competitive cricket has been played in either Coast or Rift Valley in the last 6 months, maybe more. Again, these are not good signs.

A country's national team strength is based on its domestic structure and Kenya are in real danger of losing out to the chasing pack. Sponsorship money is in for the Zonal league and it should take off soon. It is not before time and will be a welcome boost to the top 60 players in the country as they get to play each other on a regular basis at all forms of the game. It will certainly help those players and will benefit the national team.

What will happen to the rest of the players however? It is imperative that Cricket Kenya also look to the development and promotion of the game to grow the grass root numbers, especially at a youth level. It is a must that development at school age be driven at a national level and not left up to individuals and clubs. Those clubs that do have good development systems, such as Kongonis, need to be supported and other clubs need to be given assistance to do the same. Private schools should also be brought into the fold to add their facilities and player base. From my days at Kenton, I am sure there are players from that circle who would add strength to the national teams at Under 13 and Under 15 level and hence benefit the overall standards of the game.

Without a good feed of players from junior ranks, Kenya will continue to lose ground to the chasing pack. It is as simple as that and all stakeholders in Kenyan cricket need to put aside their differences and realise that unless they cooperate to grow the game at youth level, all their bickering will be in vain anyway.

Afghans and Kiwis

I have just read this story in the NZ Herald about how Afghanistan, one of the Associates who are fast improving, want to play a variety of established cricketing nations including New Zealand.

Given the Kiwis propensity to flee at the slightest hint of danger to their team (remember the 2003 World Cup), I couldn't resist having a dig when I read the following quote from Afghanistan national coach Taj Malik:

"We are sure if we do not beat them, we can fight them."

Apologies for the terrible drawing (ignore the scribbles in the top right - they are Kennedy Obuya's scores so far this season for Caboolture).

Unimpressed

Thanks to the ICC buggering around instead of organising dates for the Intercontinental Cup i will miss out on Kenya's next two games despite being in the countries they are being played in at the same time of year.

I arrive in Kenya on 31st December having traveled via Dubai. While i am in Kenya, Kenya fly to the UAE to play them on the 9th of January. Then at the end of my Holiday when I will be spending 4 nights in Dubai, Kenya will be taking on Namibia in Nairobi. something is not right with this picture!

I found out about these dates the day after I booked my (non changeable) tickets having been hassling the ICC for the dates for a while now so I could work in some cricket watching to the holiday. Then they wonder why they don't get bigger crowds and more support. FFS - my neighbour's half blind poodle could organise things better!

NOT HAPPY!!!!

Still a big gap

Despite Kenya's recent series whitewash over Canada, October has not all been good for Kenyan Cricket. Denmark, who have been touring the country playing a combination of age, regional and development teams leave undefeated having beaten Kenya A in their final match. It should also be noted that this was a strong Kenya A side after previous results against CCA and NPCA sides were convincing victories for the Danes and prompted a shuffle in personel.

That Cricket Kenya organised the tour and that they spread the games around different teams allowing different players to gain experience is to be lauded. It is however slightly disappointing that Kenya A were not able to put up a better performance. It would also have been nice if the opportunity of having Denmark and Uganda both in the country had been taken to play a triangular with Kenya A. The way Uganda are playing, they probably would have won that event, but it would have been good experience for all concerned. CCA and NPCA could still have been given warm up games against either of the teams so that they didn't miss out.

what Kenya A's results do show is that there is still a fairly big gulf between the players in the national team and the back up or fringe players. If Kenya are going to develop into a more competitive unit, this gap needs to be bridged. This should begin to happen once the much touted National League gets underway - supposedly next month. There seems to be some confusion as to the teams that will play in that, but it sounds like it could be 2 from Nairobi and 1 each from Coast, Rift and Central with the latter 2 heavily subsidised by Nairobi players, certainly to begin with.

I think that Cricket Kenya should also include Kenya Under 19s as a separate team in this competition. It would certainly help bring on the next generation and should lead to stronger development sides and better integration of the fringe players into the national squad as they will be more used to playing a more competitive brand of cricket.

In the meantime, the national team play their first of 3 ODIs against Bermuda today. Let's hope Odoyo and Obanda can continue their good form and that some of the others also make big scores and take plenty of wickets. Make no mistake, this is a series that Kenya really should dominate.

Cutting off the nose to spite the face

Swamibapa are a club with a history of contributing a great deal to Kenyan cricket and with the bulk of the Kenyan national team playing for them, they should be one of the flag bearers for the game in the country. Instead they have allowed petulance and selfishness to get in the way of duty and in doing so have done great damage to the game and to their own players in the process.

This season should have provided a three way battle for the title with Kanbis, Swamibapa and new comers Stray Lions all battling out for the top honours in Kenyan cricket. At the beginning of the season the clubs met with the NPCA and the issue of players away on national duty was raised. It was decided then that no matches would be postponed and the teams would have to delve into their lower grades to make up sides. Everyone was happy with this until Swamibapa started to lose matches because their players were away representing the country. They requested other matches be delayed and when the NPCA refused, they withdrew their team from the Super Division in protest.

What short sighted idiocy. Kenya's top cricketers get little enough cricket at is is, but now the Swamibapa players, who make up the bulk of the national team will go into the series against Canada and Bermuda with hardly any cricket under their belts since the 20-20 world Cup. Instead of biting the bullet and putting out the best side they could under the circumstances, Swamibapa have tried to hold the game to ransom. The NPCA, quite rightly, have stood their ground and all that has been achieved is that the players (whom both the club and the administration are essentially there to serve) once again get the raw end of the deal. Worse is that Kenya have two must-win Intercontinental Cup games coming up and go in under prepared as well as having no national coach. The latter is certainly no fault of Swamibapa, but the lack of cricket certainly is and if the team lose because of it, I for one will hold them largely responsible. It must be tempting for the selectors to look elsewhere at the players who have been in action and have shown good form. Harsh on the Swamibapa players perhaps, but maybe they should have prevailed more upon the club to do the right thing.

Swamibapa's stand is just the latest in a series of poor and selfish actions made by a variety of cricket administrators in Kenya over the last year. When will the buffoons that make these sorts of decisions realise that all they are doing by them is hurting an already fragile game. As administrators of the game, they are there to serve it, not the other way round. If they cannot grow up and do their job properly, they should not be running a bath let alone what should be Kenya's premier team sport. It is high time that politics and personal pride was kicked out of Kenyan cricket. There should be no space in the game's set up for it and the sooner those responsible grow up and realise where their priorities should be, the sooner the people that play and love the game can get on and do just that without senseless interference.

Reader's reply to 'Doom?'

This reply comes from Reader Andrew Maina and is reproduced unedited:

"Unless Cricket Kenya makes real and concrete steps to expand their young player base beyond the handful of international schools that already have cricketing facilities then they shouldn't be surprised that they are having so much trouble finding talented youngsters to fill the voids left by such players like Ravi Shah and Morris Odumbe and that the few young players are struggling so much to cope. Methinks they should borrow a leaf from sports like Athletics Kenya, who have built a global powerhouse of an athletics team of the talents they uncover on a regular basis in national level sports competitions,and more recently the Kenya Rugby Football Union, in starting a public schools cricket competition. They could for example begin by selecting a core of say 5 schools in Nairobi, Rift Valley and Coast provinces to set up nets on their own school compound and regular access to a nearby cricket pitch for use when they need to play practice or real matches against each other. These would then act an extra source of new blood for clubs and if they are good enough who knows."

Well said Andrew.

Doom?

Richard Mwangi writing in the Nation called it the doom of Kenyan cricket. While I have been critical before of the Nation for their attacks on the sport, this time his article is pretty much on the money.

He stressed the need for a multi-day competition as highlighted by Roger Harper and the Late Bob Woolmer (and countless others as well). He also noted the demise of the domestic League and the fact that selectors do not seem to use it as a basis for selection anymore. With the two top domestic runscorers sitting at home while the national team was bundled out for two sub 90 scores, it is hard to argue with. He also draws attention to the fact that the only cricket really happens in Nairobi, but could have gone on to say that cricket in other areas, namely Coast and Rift Valley have been going backwards. Well judging by the lack of communication and news from them anyway.

Finally the article points out the gains made by Uganda in growing their game and mentions that unless Kenya follow suit, we may not qualify for the next World Cup. It is alarming reading and may be an over reaction to the terrible performance of the team in South Africa, but he has got a lot right. Unless Cricket Kenya start to look at sorting out the domestic situation at all levels, we are in serious strife. Promises have been made for 2 years now about national leagues and junior development. It is about time we started to see those promises being fulfilled.

The blame game

The following are direct quotes taken from the Daily Nation and are from Samir Inamdar, Chairman of Cricket Kenya after Kenya's record loss to New Zealand:

“I have asked the coach, Roger Harper, to prepare a full report. We have problems in all the departments. The team is very inconsistent, we do well in one game (referring to win over Bangladesh in the build-ups) and badly in the next game. I’m concerned because even the players’ contracts are pegged to performance,” Inamdar said.

...

No one managed 20 runs. Inamdar said: “We need better players. The transition of the team has not gone well. Most of the players who took part in the 2003 World Cup have retired and the youngsters who replaced them are yet to click.”

If I was Harper, I would turn around and lay the blame back on the shoulders of the administration. It is not his or the teams fault that Kenya's top players are not playing each other in a proper national domestic comp. It is not his or the team's fault that there is no First Cass comp in Kenya to make the good players into great players. Kenya were destroyed in 2 overs of fast bowling. This is not surprising considering that the format of cricket played in Kenya does not generate genuine quicks, so the batsmen do not know how to handle them. The only areas where Harper can be blamed are in the selection - he is on the committee and in match preparation, which from watching him previously is fine.

Selection is certainly a query, but there are only really a couple of batsmen at the moment who can be considered unfortunate not to be there: Ramesh Mepani (Kanbis) and Charles Obuya (Jafferys). As the form players at the moment, it is disappointing they are left at home despite Kenya having a weak line up at the moment. 20-20 is also a different form of the game and CK would have done better to hold a selection tournament bringing together the best players into 4 teams, playing a round robin and choosing a squad from the best performers. Some of the contracted players would no doubt have been left behind and there would probably be some new names in the team too. That would be no bad thing for any of them. Those selected would also have been better prepared for the Nbi quadrangular and hence the WC itself.

Regards new players not clicking, I don't know that this is entirely true. Mishra has for the most part impressed and so has Obanda in longer forms of the game. Nehemiah Odhiambo also continues to improve all the time. As for Ouma, who is singled out for poor performances, this is a selection matter. Drop him down to the A side (making sure they get to play matches) until he regains his confidence, then give him another go if his A team performance warrants.

Again, bringing through new talent is a factor that CK should be addressing themselves rather than needing a report made by the coach. The answer should be simple:

• Bring back the Development Academy

• Set up a proper national domestic comp at all forms of the game at all age levels

• Schedule more matches for Kenya A and the U19 against teams such as Uganda & Tanzania

• Revitalise schools cricket to keep the youngsters coming through.

• Ensure pitch quality and equipment is there to allow talent to flourish.

• Promote the game properly to grow the fanbase and hence the numbers playing.

It should not be that hard to get right!