It’s time to begin Kenya cricket on a fresh note - Eldine Baptiste
The coach of Kenya cricket team Eldine Baptiste is positive that the final league game of the ICC Intercontinental Cup against Afghanistan will give Kenya cricket will prove fruitful, allowing the team to have a fresh start. The final league fixture of the
intercontinental cup is scheduled to be staged at Nairobi Gymkhana, Kenya from 2-5 October.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 is leading the points table of the ICC Intercontinental Cup with 77 points and is all set to secure its top spot in the table by winning the final fixture against hosts. The home side, on the other hand, is currently rated fifth on the points
table with 43 points in its account. Afghanistan and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 have already confirmed their places in the next round of the tournament.
Despite Kenya’s zero chances of making it to the title round of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, the Kenyan coach considers the final league match to be very crucial for the future of struggling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 cricket.
Baptiste said that the match against Afghanistan would help Kenya cricket team to where it is in terms of all the preparations the players have done over the past few months. The coach admitted that the Kenyan team had not performed well against the Indian
Ranji sides, Gujarat and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Baroda-c769, when they visited Kenya earlier.
Baptiste opined that this is high time for Kenya cricket to begin the game on a fresh note. He said that Kenya has a wide range of players to pick from. Baptiste further added that the match against Afghanistan would be a fair yardstick to judge where the
side stands as a team.
Kenya has beefed up its team by calling back players either from retirement or their duties abroad. The most important name among those players is the former captain skipper Steve Tikolo who has opted to come out of retirement.
Batting has always been the area of concern for the struggling Kenya team and the coach Eldine Baptiste is pretty hopeful that the comeback of senior players would give a boost to the inexperienced line-up in the game.
"Steve's return is very good. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Durham-c782 University. The batting department looks a lot more settled than what it was before. We now have 11-12 claimants
for six spots. That makes a big difference to our fortunes.”
The former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 bowler said that the main aim of the team and management is to make Kenya the best associate team. The coach lauded the fielding and fitness of his side and rated it best among the rest of the associate teams. According to Baptiste,
the only department that Kenya team needs to work on is the batting. He said that top order of Kenya needs to make big scores. The coach wanted top six players in the order to score centuries.
“In terms of fielding and fitness terms we are on top. But it is in our batting that we need to do a lot of work. We need to make big runs. The top six needs to make hundreds," admitted Baptiste.
Baptiste also praised the batting of Afghanistan saying that their batting department is quite strong these days. “I want to give my hats off to them. It will be a challenge to see how we go against them," said the Kenya coach.
Following the ICC Intercontinental Cup match, Kenya will face off Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series as well. So the fixtures against Afghanistan are very significant especially with the prestigious ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 round the corner.
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