Kenya cricket lads head to Accra heads high

Kenya's national men’s senior cricket captain Rakep Patel has thrown the gauntlet ahead of the African Games in Accra, Ghana.

The multi-sport games will be the first international assignment for Lameck Onyango's charges this year.

The cricket team will depart for Accra Friday morning.

Captain Rakep Patel and assistant coach Joseph Angara said they are keen to perform well in Accra.

The men’s cricket will bowl off on Sunday. Kenya is in Group "A", alongside top-ranked South Africa, Uganda and Ghana.

Pool "B" members are Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. South Africa are sixth globally, while Namibia (11), Zimbabwe (13), Uganda (22), Kenya (29), Tanzania (33), Nigeria (38) and Ghana (64) follow in that order.

“The goal is to reach the final,” said Rakep. “For the last three months we have been working on the fielding and hopefully it turns out well this time.”

Disastrous batting and fielding have cost Kenya victory in several tournaments, including in the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Regional qualifiers in Windhoek, Namibia, in November.

“We have had six T20 games and they have gone very well. We are better than what we showed in Namibia but we have really worked on it (fielding),” Angara said.

Having been sidelined for about four months with an ankle injury, Rakep said he is delighted to be back in the team.

“Now that I’m fully fit, I think I can give my 100 per cent, I am very eager to score runs and keep the team forward.”

Teenage bowler Aarnav Patel is the only player who has earned his maiden call-up to the team. He was one of Kenya’s outstanding players in the 2024 ICC Under-19 World Cup, Africa Division One Qualifier in Dar-es-Salaam.