Cricket Kenya has had to reschedule its planned three-day league because of the lack of availability of players.
Due to start last Friday, the event will now run on the next three weekends with game restricted to two days. Tom Tikolo, the board's chief executive, explained that this move had been forced on them by the "unavailability of many players who are students and/or working". He added that it was expected that at least 100 overs would be bowled on each day and that the matches would still be two-innings affairs.
The move will be a bitter blow to Cricket Kenya who had been looking to the competition to highlight any emerging talent outside the tried-and-known national squad.
The tournament had initially be scheduled for January and had been intended to coincide with holidays, making the availability for schoolboys much easier. But the violence which followed the disputed presidential elections put paid to that.
Its good to see that the competitions eventually got underway. Its a shame that the politics in Kenya are ruining what should have already been a test nation, especially after their success in the 2002 world cup.
True, its also a pity that whilst the moneyed lot on the one end of the scale are practically creating league after league of T20 on the other end even putting together an effective national competition is so very arduous.
Credit to Cricket Kenya for soldiering on even with the relatively limited resources to make this competition possible. In my opinion the introduction multi-innings cricket to players who would otherwise not get such an experience and otherwise develop into better cricketers is far more important than any old cash cow t20 league for the growth of cricket.
I agree, full credit to Cricket Kenya for their perseverance. One day they will get there, but sadly, the politics will need sorting out before they can be seriously considered a chance for test status.
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