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Bermuda were haphazard with their batting ... not that the outside world knew
© Will Luke
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The conditions were perfect. A cooling breeze took the edge off a sultry day at Jaffrey's Sports Club, the pitch was firm and the players raring to go. Sadly, the opening match of the World Cricket League was an administrative cock-up.
The match itself went smoothly, bar a couple of injuries. Kenya were too controlled with their bowling, Bermuda too haphazard with their batting and a meek total of 133 was never likely to trouble Kenya who romped home with a whopping 31.5 overs to spare, and all their wickets in hand.
But an hour after play had begun there was the very real possibility that the developments on the pitch might not make it out into the public domain. Nervous scribes frantically hunted for a spare donkey, carrier pigeon, pen and paper – anything to replace the equipment provided by Popote, one of the sponsors of the tournament and the official provider of telecommunications for the media.
Two hours into the match their technical gurus, for want of a better word, decided to turn up. Some were lucky with their connections, others less so. And by the time Kenya were batting, some were still internetless. For the modern journalist, this is tantamount to a restraining order, not to mention wholly damaging for the reputations of the companies they represent.
Furthermore, and most damaging of all, we were unable to cover the match to the best of our abilities; we were unable to promote the match, and tell the world that Kenya were hosting such an important tournament.
It almost, but not quite, makes a mockery of the joyous opening ceremony staged last night at Parklands. Kenya was on the up. Life was good. All eyes would be on them for the next two weeks, so let's all have some more beer and get dancing.
What a shame for them that the media have been handicapped from the start.
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