Richard Mwangi
2 July 2009
Nairobi — Newly appointed Kenya skipper Morris Ouma will on Friday lead the team against Ireland in the International Cricket Council Intercontinental Cup in Dublin.
Ouma, who is also the team's wicket keeper, will steer the batting line-up and is expected to open batting with one of the Obuya siblings, either Kennedy or David.
This will be his first assignment as a captain and will be expected to work closely with senior players like his predecessor, Steve Tikolo, former vice-captain Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ong'ondo.
Kenya start as underdogs and much will depend on the performance of Tikolo with the bat. The batting of the team has not been impressive of late and centuries have been hard to come by.
The morale of Ireland, the defending champions, must be at its zenith following their brilliant performance in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa in April and the just-concluded Twenty20 World Cup in London where they beat Bangladesh to reach the Super Eight stage.
After failing to reach the final of the inaugural event in 2004, the Irish have won three successive events. They have been dominant in the Intercontinental, having won 12 of their 18 matches in the history of the four-day first-class event. Kenya has won six and lost four of their 17 games.
Ireland coach Phil Simmons said Kenya had named a very strong side for the match but expected the African side to be rusty, having not played any top level cricket since April.
Kenya: Morris Ouma (captain), Jimmy Kamande (vice-captain), Kennedy Obuya, Alex Obanda, Steve Tikolo, Collins Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Lameck Ngoche, Peter Ongondo, Hiren Varaiya, Rakep Patel, Elijah Otieno, Seren Waters, David Obuya
Ireland: Kyle McCallan (captain), Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Andrew Britton, Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kevin O'Brien, Andrew Poynter, Paul Stirling, Regan West, Andrew White, Gary Wilson
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
