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Kenya: Cricket - Coach Kirsten Hits the Ground Running
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The Nation (Nairobi)
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Richard Mwangi
Nairobi
Kenya's new national cricket team coach, Andy Kirsten, on Wednesday said that he was satisfied with the level of fitness displayed by his players during the first session he conducted at the Kenyatta University on Tuesday.
The players were tested on endurance, speed, strength and flexibility and the computed results will be out in a week's time.
But even before the official results are out, Kirsten said that the level of fitness of the players was satisfactory. "We will be well prepared by the time we play our first game," the coach said.
Commenting on the team's rather unimpressive batting, Kirsten said: "I'm going to introduce new drills to the players which will go towards improvement of their batting abilities."
He was, however, happy with the bowling which he said was disciplined and noted that he was going to work with the players to bring their fielding up to a higher level.
Kirsten's work will be put to test in in mid July when Kenya open their European tour with a one-week visit to Denmark where they will play three one day international matches and as many Twenty20 games against their hosts.
The tour was confirmed by Tom Tikolo, Cricket Kenya's chief executive officer, who said that the team will also spend one week in England where they will prepare for the International Cricket Council's Twenty20 World Cup qualifiers to be played in Ireland in early August.
The qualifiers for the six top associate members of the ICC (Kenya, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland) will pick two for next year's Twenty20 World Cup.
Kenya and Scotland represented the associate members of the ICC at the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last September.
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The qualifiers for the South Africa tournament were held in Nairobi where Kenya beat Scotland in the final. Tikolo also said that after the Twenty20 competition, the team will be hosted by both Scotland and the Netherlands for the four-day Intercontinental Cup games.
The Tusker-sponsored Kenyan squad will close their European tour in Ireland where they will play three one day international matches. Ireland will also visit Kenya in October for the last Intercontinental Cup match at the Nairobi Gymkhana.
Two one-dayers Kenya was scheduled to play in South Africa in July have been pushed to November.
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