http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755? – ICC World Cup 2011
The title says it all. There are no two thoughts about this one. Of course it is a laughing matter, unless Kenya takes inspiration from Netherlands last night thrashing of England.
The English eventually won, avoiding a potential slip on the banana skin, but they had some tense moments and everyone is talking about the Dutch all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate’s exhilarating innings. But whatever the result was, the match came close to
something about what the World Cup is all about.
You have one strong team, thinking it will be a walk in the park as the opposition minnow team will not post a fight back. They might even just say, here you go, make runs and break records, we’ll just clap along. But what http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 did last night, apart
from giving a migraine from the garish orange; they showed the world that the associate teams needs the exposure on a much bigger scale. Who knows, they might be able to lift the World Cup by 2015.
But today it is not about the oranje brigade, but about the clash between the unpredictable Pakistan and Kenya in a stadium that is literally in the middle of a jungle in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
Kenya lost their opening game of Group A against New Zealand, and mind you it was quite an onslaught. They are still trying to breathe; some are even reportedly on ventilators, after the demolition from the Black Caps. Maybe it was a second match of the
World Cup or maybe they were scared of Jesse Ryder and Scott Styris’s tweets. Kenya was bowled out in 23.5 overs, batting for 107 minutes, and giving just 69 runs to the Kiwis for the chase. The “not-so-in-form” New Zealand managed to successfully chase the
target in just 37 minutes.
I did not even get to see the game, not even catch the highlights because when I woke up, it was all over, but you do tend to feel for the Kenyans. After all they too have feelings like all of us. They have a right to be part of the cricket eco-system or
get exterminated in the process of becoming part of the eco-system.
They displayed some strong performances in the pre-tournament matches; they were upbeat after working with the South African legendary fielder Jonty Rhodes. Their cricket board even found a way to make themselves more identifiable to the world as they announced
a “new identity.” They changed the logo; they changed the uniform and came to the sub-continent, to begin their bid for the tenth edition of the World Cup and to reprise what they did eight years ago.
They jaunted to the 2003 World Cup semi-finals but it seems that they have to step on a lot of burning stones. They have already lost to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, it can be expected they will lose to Pakistan (but you can never rule out a possible ‘win’ against Pakistan);
they also have to face co-hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 are the other two minnows in Group A.
The batting line up cannot be dismissed lightly. They have Thomas Odoyo, the 32-year-old right handed batsman who is returning to the side for the fifth time in the World Cup. Even though he managed to score only 2 runs in the previous encounter against
New Zealand, his experience cannot be denied.
And then they have the 39-year-old Steve Tikolo. He might have sparked a dispute with his board but he is still raring to go to play for his country. The fact that he only managed to score 2 against the Kiwis after facing, well only 2 balls-which is quite
conveniently besides the matter. He may be nearing forty which again is besides the matter, since many of us still have it fresh in our memories his 126 runs off 126 balls against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 earlier last month. This is the sort of inspiration required by
the Kenyans.
Other than Tikolo, the batting line-up is much more inexperienced. Their opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Seren-Waters-c89209 was one of the top scorer against New Zealand (16 runs off 42 balls- don’t laugh, it’s disrespectful), and he has the potential to do something good.
Kenyan skipper, Jimmy Kamande, once stated that batting was their strongest point. Well, now we have seen how strong that was against a “form-finding” New Zealand squad, I won’t even analyze their bowling. But they do have some decent players on their side.
Peter Ongondo has a good economy rate and should do well against the opposition. However, spin is the key in the sub-continent and this is where cracks appear in the Kenyan squad.
The 2003 World Cup hero, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Collins-c51521 Obuya, is the only option for spin and if he fails Kamande might need to turn to other options.
If nothing happens, we could always hope they might surprise us like they did in 2003.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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