Cricket: Kenya switch focus to Africa T20 event
Kenya's batsman Irfan Karim (left) bats under pressure from Nepal's Wicketkeeper Aarif Sheikh during their first of the five International Twenty20 Cricket match at Nairobi Gymkhana ground on August 25, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Uganda, Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Cameroon are the other countries that will feature in the ACA T20 Cup Final.
- The competition has been sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
There is no rest for the national men’s cricket team as they turn their attention to the Africa Cricket Association (ACA) Twenty20 (T20) Cup Final planned for September 15 to 21 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Coach David Obuya’s men have in the last two weeks played Nepal in both T20 and One Day International (ODI) bilateral series at Nairobi Gymkhana Club.
The tourists, coached by Manoj Prabhakar, beat Kenya 3-2 in the five-match T20 series. and 3-0 in the three-match ODI contest.
Coach Obuya said though they lost both titles to Nepal, they “picked a lot of positives which will help the team improve their performance.”
Uganda, Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Cameroon are the other countries that will feature in the ACA T20 Cup Final.
The competition has been sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Kenya are in Group "B" alongside Nigeria, Malawi and Cameroon. The rest of the teams are in Group A.
The former Kenya international said they will look to win many matches in the competition so as to improve their ranking in the men’s ICC T20 ranking.
Thanks to their two victories over Nepal in the T20 series, Kenya climbed two places to 28th n the men’s ICC T20 standings. India tops with 12,667 points.
“The tournament (against Nepal) gave us the much needed momentum, so we go to the ACA T20 Cup Final well prepared. Our aim is to improve in our ranking, so we will look to win as many matches as possible,” said Obuya.
The squad of 14 players are expected to leave the country on Thursday next week.
The quartet of Collins Obuya, Sachin Budhia, Eugene Ochieng and Alex Obandia, which was part of the team that faced Nepal, will not travel for the assignment.
Coach Obuya said that while Ochieng is out injured, the other three players will be resting.
During their series with Nepal, the tactician majorly blamed their loss to the early collapse of their top-order batsmen.
He said with Sukhdeep Singh starting to regain his form back and with Rushab Patel and Irfan Karim in the team, he expects a better show in South Africa.
Regarding their poor bowling, which Nepal’s coach Manoj pointed out as their main problem, coach Obuya said they will look to correct it through constant practice.
This he said will be made easy once the players sign their contracts sometime this month.
