Out for a duck: The year Kenya ceded ground to Uganda in all formats

While 2023 was a busy year for Kenya’s cricket teams, there is little to write home about their performances, painting a grim picture of how the country has fallen down the pecking order in a sport it once rubbed shoulders with the best globally.

Kenya has featured in five editions of the International Cricket Council World Cup: four when the country enjoyed the prestigious One Day International (ODI) status (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2011) and once in the shorter version of T20 (2007).

As of December 22, Uganda were placed 22nd in Men’s T20 rankings, seven places above Kenya. Heading into the Africa Regional qualifiers in Windhoek in Namibia, Uganda and Kenya were ranked 23rd and 30th, respectively. In the Women’s T20 rankings, Uganda were ranked 18th as of December 18, six places above Kenya.

Kenya and Uganda are not among the teams ranked in the One Day International since they don’t play against ranked teams.

Kenya men and women’s senior cricket teams and the national men’s under-19 side failed to rise to the occasion this year when it mattered most, leaving fans furious.

Perhaps the only good things about Kenya’s cricket in the ending year are the resumption of funding for Cricket Kenya (CK) by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Associations (NPCA) Leagues that have run consistently, giving players a chance to engage in the game of cricket.

Due to leadership wrangles that rocked CK for the better part of the last decade, the world cricket governing body had in May 2020 stopped funding Kenya, demanding that it puts its house in order.

After cricket stakeholders elected a new office in February 2022, thanks to the 2021 CK Constitution, ICC directed the local federation led by businessman Manoj Patel to fill the positions of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Development Director and Chief Finance Officer (CFO).

The recruitment for positions was completed in December 2022, with sports administrator Ronald Bukusi, former Kenya international Thomas Odoyo, and Nathan Okaka named the CEO, Development Director and CFO, respectively.

In February this year, ICC sent a team of auditors to go through CK’s books, and subsequently lifted the caveat on funding Kenya on June 14.

But the world cricket governing body only released funding for the first quarter of the year since Kenya was still under the controlled funding programme.

Under controlled funding, ICC only releases funds to its members on a quarterly basis. The member countries must strictly follow the budget approved by the world cricket governing body.

Kenya, which received $409,000 (Sh57, 628,100 as per the exchange rate at the time), was expected to be under the controlled funding programme for a year. Of that whole amount, Bukusi said ICC directed that $257,000 (Sh 36,262,700) used to settle historical debts that were choking CK. The debts included staff salaries and rent.

Thanks to resumption in funding, CK, on June 26, re-opened its office at Ruaraka Sports Club Ground in Nairobi after being under lock and key for three years.

“I came when there were no structures at all, so we had to start from the very beginning. We are much better than we were two months ago, and every day is a bit of a growth. Now that we have an office, we can actually come in, sit together and strategise,” Bukusi told Nation Sport weeks after the office was re-opened.

But on the pitch, Kenya continued to play second fiddle to their neighbours Uganda in both men’s and women’s competitions.

It never used to be this way until the unending leadership wrangles at CK interfered with the talent development structures in Kenya.

While the Kenya national men’s senior cricket team has featured in five World Cups, their Ugandan counterpart will be making their first ever appearance in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States of America and West Indies from June 4 to 30 next year.

Uganda qualified for the competition by virtue of finishing second in the Africa Regional qualifiers held in November in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Cranes qualified alongside leaders Namibia with 10 and 12 points, respectively. Kenya finished a disappointing fifth with six points.

With poor preparations, Kenya - handled by ex-internationals Lameck Onyango (head coach) and Joseph Angara (assistant coach) - needed a miracle to qualify for the upcoming World Cup by finishing among the top two teams in the Africa Regional qualifiers.

Onyango replaced ex-international David Obuya under unclear circumstances in August. Apart from Team Kenya’s training at Ruaraka being constantly interrupted by rain, the sessions were never full-house since some players engaged at work.

With no running contracts for players, who are owed salaries and allowances, team coaches could not compel them to attend training.

Bukusi says plans by CK to take the team for high performance training in Zimbabwe fell through owing to lack of adequate funds. Instead, the team camped at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, for three days only. On the other hand, Uganda attended a 10-day training camp at Takashinga Cricket Club in Zimbabwe.

In Windhoek, Kenya struggled against Uganda and top sides Zimbabwe and Namibia. Kenya’s disastrous batting and fielding was laid bare at the tournament.

Kenya lost by 33 runs to Uganda and fell by six wickets to Namibia, then went down by 110 runs against Zimbabwe, who shockingly failed to qualify for the World Cup after finishing third in the Africa Regional qualifiers with eight points.

Kenya registered three wins in the competition: a 17-run romp over Rwanda, four-wicket win over Nigeria and a 50-run victory over Tanzania.

The team’s hopes to atone for the poor performance in Windhoek by winning the 2023 Africa Cricket Association (ACA) T20 Cup at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, Gauteng, in South Africa, were thwarted by Uganda, who thrashed Kenya by 91 runs in the final on December 19.

Victory in the ACAT20 Cup completed a superb year for Cricket Cranes as they had lifted the inaugural Continent Cup T20 Africa title in June after beating Kenya by one run in the final at Nairobi Gymkhana.

At the inaugural Continent Cup T20 Africa that also drew in Botswana and Rwanda, the teams met three times, with the top two sides qualifying for the final.

Kenya defeated Uganda by 88 runs in their first meeting, but the Cricket Cranes won the two other matches by 47 runs and five wickets, respectively.

Kenya beat Rwanda in all matches, winning by three and seven wickets, respectively.

Against Botswana, coach Onyango’s side won the first match by eight wickets but lost the second by 30 runs. It was the first time Botswana beat Kenya. Kenya bounced back with victory in the third match, prevailing by six wickets.

Kenya women’s team failed to qualify for 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be played in Bangladesh.

Coach Francis Otieno’s side failed to qualify for the final of the Africa Region Qualifiers at Entebbe Cricket Oval in Uganda from December 9 to December 17.

Kenya performed dismally in the tournament, registering just one victory. Kenya played in Group “A” alongside Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Botswana, while Group “B” had Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria and Rwanda.

Kenya’s only victory in the tournament was a 20-run win (DSL method) in their last group match after they lost to Zimbabwe by 62 runs and fell by seven wickets (DSL method) to Tanzania.

Zimbabwe beat Uganda by six wickets in the final of the Africa Regional qualifiers. The two finalists progressed to the Global Qualifier – the last round of the upcoming World Cup qualifier in Dubai in the first quarter of 2024.

Kenya had qualified for the Africa Region qualifiers by virtue of lifting the Africa Regional Division Two title in September in Gaborone, Botswana.

Coach Otieno’s side won all its matches in the tournament, beating Botswana by nine wickets in the final and Cameroon by 118 runs at the semi-final stage.

Kenya defeated Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho by 111 runs, seven wickets and 2008 runs, respectively, in Pool “A”.

Kenya’s all-rounder, Queentor Abel, stole the show in the tournament by winning the Most Valuable Player, best batswoman and best bowler accolades.

In the Victoria Series T20 Women’s tournament held in April at Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala, Uganda, Kenya picked just one point after their match against the hosts rained off.

Tanzania, Rwanda and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the other teams that played in the tournament.

Kenya lost to UAE, Rwanda and Tanzania by 15 runs, 47 runs and 101 runs respectively. Uganda were crowned champions after topping the standings with seven points.

Director of Women’s Cricket at CK, Pearlyne Omamo, absolved the team of blame in their uncharacteristically poor performance.

“The girls did not have necessary resources to enable them to train to the required standards,” Omamo said at the time. Days later, Kenya’s captain, Sharon Juma, announced her retirement from international cricket after wearing the national team’s colours for 10 years.

Kenya under-19 side failed to qualify for the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men’s World Cup after finishing second behind Namibia in the Africa Division One qualifiers in Dar es Salaam.

Topping with nine points, Namibia clinched the sole berth to the global championships in Sri Lanka.

Uganda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Nigeria are other teams that featured in the competition. Kenya finished second with seven points after defeating Sierra Leone (by four wickets), Uganda (by 23 runs DSL method) and Nigeria (by six wickets).

As part of preparation for the tournament, Kenya held a 10-day high performance training camp at Omtex ICWC Cricket Institute in Saphale-Palghar District, in India.

Despite missing the World Cup ticket, Kenya’s coach, Josphat Irungu, was happy with his boys' performances.

“We must not stop training and playing if we want to qualify for the next World Cup. The boys need to train long together not only when competitions are approaching,” he observed then.

At the local scene, Ruaraka Sports Club “A” were crowned the 2023 Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super Division 50 Overs League champions.

Ruaraka, who only lost two matches, topped the eight-team league with 48 points, four more than second-placed Kanbis Sports Club “A”, while Stray Lions Cricket Club “A” finished third with 40 points.

With 692 runs and 21 wickets to his name, Ruaraka’s Sachin Gill was named this season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Only Shubham Jadhav (Stray Lions) and Pushkar Sharma (Ruaraka) scored more runs at 966 in 14 innings and 730 in 14 innings, respectively.

NPCA hierarchy completed a superb year for them by holding an Awards Gala at Sikh Union Club on October 28.

Apart from teams, individual players and officials who performed exemplary well in the 2018/19, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2022/24 seasons, were feted.

NPCA did not hold the gala for the past four seasons due to lack of sponsorship and Covid-19 pandemic.

Kanbis, Ruaraka and Stray Lions dominated the awards.

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