Nairobi — Ben Wangai has been a cricket enthusiast and player ever since his basic education at Aga Khan Primary School in Nairobi. The 52-year-old has been a keen follower of the sport in the country and has for long hoped to one day don the national colours and fly Kenya's flag at an international level.
Well, in January next year, he will get the chance to realise his dream when he captains the national deaf cricket men's team at the first-ever World T20 Cricket Deaf Cricket Championships in India. The 30-player squad have been training for the past half year at the Unity Primary School in Umoja area and Wangai admits the opportunity to join his peers in training was one he could not pass up.
"It was too good an opportunity to let go so I joined the team. We have been training for the past six months and we began when we were very few. As you can see, the number has really increased. Personally, I started playing cricket when I was still in school at Aga Khan Primary School and I've played the sport since then," Wangai says.
Being a differently-abled athlete has come with its challenges with Wangai who believes the trip to India heralds a new dawn for members of the team.
"The journey has not been easy in terms of our career in cricket. Being a differently-abled athlete means you will always face challenges in training and in the game itself. That's why we need the government's support if we are to grow in tandem with our abled peers in cricket. For us, it would be the height of our careers to go to India and come back victorious. That is what we are dreaming of... to do our country proud," Wangai explains.
Being one of the top senior members of the team, Wangai has been a father figure to the rest of the players, helping the technical bench to psychologically prepare his younger teammates for the task ahead by mentoring them.
"The coach has been there to guide us... to show us the areas on which we can improve. Also, as one of the most experienced players on the team, I have been keen to use this experience to mentor the younger players by showing them the right path to follow if they are to go far in their careers," the father of two says.
One step closer
The team's coach, Sarah Bakhita, concurs with the captain's comments, noting that the upcoming Deaf Cricket World Cup represents one more step towards achieving equity in sports for persons living with disabilities.
She says Kenya's participation in the tournament is not a one-off thing but the beginning of a sustained effort towards opening up opportunities for talented deaf cricketers at all levels of the societies to realise their potential at the highest level of their playing careers.
"Of course, moving forward, development is very important. If we can get younger players... maybe from deaf schools and incorporate them, then we will always have a system to feed younger players into the national team. Once you achieve that then this means more tournaments and players will be able to play throughout," she explains.
Bakhita, who also works with East Africa Character Development Trust, an organization that uses sports and education to transform the lives of young disadvantaged persons across Africa, says the players have vastly improved ever since the first training session.
"The training has been good... it has been awesome. Our objective has been to provide the players with the basic, necessary training in time for the Deaf Cricket World Cup. We will have a final team of around 16 players who will then represent the country. We have seen a big improvement in the players and hope that for the remaining two months, they will be able to sharpen their skills," Bakhita says.
Part of the preparations for the players has been to incorporate them in cricket games with able-bodied partners, which has helped develop a competitive mentality within the team.
"At our organization, we have a community team composed of young, experienced players who have played for the national team at the under 19 level. Through matches with this community, we have been able to expose the deaf cricketers to the complexities of the game through these interactions with normal cricketers who have been in the sport for long," she expounds.
Hope for women cricket
January's World Championships will be composed entirely of men's teams albeit Bakhita is optimistic that deaf cricket will grow to comprise a women's tournament at the global level.
Already, the team is ahead of the curve, incorporating female players in the six-month camp to enable them grow at par with their male counterparts.
"Right now, we are training both of them (male and female). Since it is a new sport, we are bringing everyone on board. But, for the World Championship in India, it will only be men's teams and later, the ladies will have their own tournament. So, in light of that, it is better to start early by affording the ladies the chance to start training as well," Bakhita explains.
She adds: "I feel that this is a great opportunity because equity is what we have been lacking in sports. They (deaf sportspersons) do not have opportunities to compete in regular competitions so having a tournament exclusively for them is a great idea. It will give hope to those players who maybe feel they cannot achieve some things."
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As Kenyan cricket continues its awakening from many years of slumber, occasioned by endless squabbles at the upper echelons of the game, Bakhita is hopeful that the young Cricket Kenya administration can incorporate deaf cricket in its development programmes.
"Of course, if they can incorporate deaf cricket in their development programmes that would be a big boost to us. If they can designate coaches to provide training to talented deaf cricketers, then that would be of huge help," she says.
Echoing her sentiments, Wangai promises that they will push on from India to ensure that Kenya becomes a hotbed of talent as far as deaf cricket is concerned.
"We do not intend to stop with India but to keep pushing so that deaf cricket can become a major sport in the country. We have to continue training to add more skills and keep getting better," Wangai, who hopes his son and daughter take after him, says.
As they intensify their preparations and depart for India, all eyes will be on the team to ensure they follow in the footsteps of their peers who emerged the best African country at May's Deaflympic Games in Caxias Do Sul, Brazil.
The tournament runs from January 10-20 next year.
