mr_mister
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
As any cricket diehard worth his salt knows Kenya were the minnow of this era, and probably a lot of people's personal favourite minnow before Ireland and later Afghanistan came along and muddied that discussion (Sorry Bangladesh >_>)
Their record over this period is interesting. In 1996 they generally batted too slowly, often lasting close to their full 50 overs but until their last match they hadn't passed 207 in a team innings. Mind you this still included a shocking victory against the West Indies. Then in their final match against SL, their bowlers who had just hinted they were the secret weapon of this nation went for nearly 400 while the batsman finally let loose and hit 254 - sort of setting a precedent for 1999. I'm not gonna worry about whether that was on a road or not.
In 1999, generally a cup that had plenty of lower batting totals, they didn't get any wins, but their batting had certainly improved. They had 3 totals between 229-235(Australia passed 229 only once in the group stage) but their bowling leaked some of the biggest totals of the group stages, against India and SL. No doubt their 'big' totals in both these first 2 world cups were benefited from relatively tame bowling attacks not too concerned about defending giant totals but I digress.
In 2003 as everyone knows a combination of luck but also plenty of skill and determination got these guys to the bloody Semi Finals. Despite getting thrashed a few times and receiving a walkover against NZ, they still legitimately beat Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Scattered potential with bat and ball in the two prior world cups gelled together at the same time on several occasions in '03 and got them to the final 4, a stage it is extremely unlikely a non-test nation will ever reach again at a 50 over WC. They didn't choke in the 50/50 match against Bangladesh, put away Canada like they should have and of course had big upsets against solid sides Zim and SL. They even gave Australia a brief scare late in the tournament, with Asif Karim bowling that spell.
And then they pretty much disappeared. No test status, no future shock victories at world cups. The dream was over.
There were several players who featured in all 3 of these cups, as the Kenyan side at the time was sort of a big family, mainly sticking to the same players(and plenty of them also being related). Some improved a lot as the years went on and their progress was interesting to watch.
Here are the stats of their clear cut best 4 players across these cups - notably all had all-round roles
The wicketkeeper and opening batsman, Kenny Otieno: 427 runs @ 22.5 with 4 fifties and a S/R of 52. 11 catches and 4 stumpings. Highlight: 12 Dismissals in '03 to go with 2 vital fifties(Both these knocks, 60 and 79 were more than double what any of his teammates scored in these matches)
The original captain, middle order batsman and offspinner Maurice Odumbe: 452 runs @ 30.1 with 3 fifties and a S/R of 73.1. 18 wickets @ 31. Highlight: Hitting 200+ runs, while averaging 42 and striking @ 103 in '03, to go with 9 wickets @ 25. Nuff said!
The young gun, big hitting pace bowling all-rounder Thomas Odoyo: 315 runs @ 26.2 and a S/R of 68.6. 16 wickets @ 35. Highlight: Striking at 100 in the slow scoring 1999 WC - his 117 tournament runs included 6 sixes.
and of course the champion batsman and occasional offie Steve Tikolo: 569 runs @ 30 with 6 fifties and a S/R of 66.7. 10 wickets @ 29.8. Highlight: Tikolo was Mr Consistent across these 3 cups, hell include 2007 too. He scored 2 fifties each in all 4 of these tournaments. Include 2007 in his stats and he ends up with 724 runs @ 34! But in 1996 he helped put his country on the map with 65 against India and 96 against Sri Lanka, which stayed the closest a Kenyan got to a World cup Century til 2011.
Their record over this period is interesting. In 1996 they generally batted too slowly, often lasting close to their full 50 overs but until their last match they hadn't passed 207 in a team innings. Mind you this still included a shocking victory against the West Indies. Then in their final match against SL, their bowlers who had just hinted they were the secret weapon of this nation went for nearly 400 while the batsman finally let loose and hit 254 - sort of setting a precedent for 1999. I'm not gonna worry about whether that was on a road or not.
In 1999, generally a cup that had plenty of lower batting totals, they didn't get any wins, but their batting had certainly improved. They had 3 totals between 229-235(Australia passed 229 only once in the group stage) but their bowling leaked some of the biggest totals of the group stages, against India and SL. No doubt their 'big' totals in both these first 2 world cups were benefited from relatively tame bowling attacks not too concerned about defending giant totals but I digress.
In 2003 as everyone knows a combination of luck but also plenty of skill and determination got these guys to the bloody Semi Finals. Despite getting thrashed a few times and receiving a walkover against NZ, they still legitimately beat Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Scattered potential with bat and ball in the two prior world cups gelled together at the same time on several occasions in '03 and got them to the final 4, a stage it is extremely unlikely a non-test nation will ever reach again at a 50 over WC. They didn't choke in the 50/50 match against Bangladesh, put away Canada like they should have and of course had big upsets against solid sides Zim and SL. They even gave Australia a brief scare late in the tournament, with Asif Karim bowling that spell.
And then they pretty much disappeared. No test status, no future shock victories at world cups. The dream was over.
There were several players who featured in all 3 of these cups, as the Kenyan side at the time was sort of a big family, mainly sticking to the same players(and plenty of them also being related). Some improved a lot as the years went on and their progress was interesting to watch.
Here are the stats of their clear cut best 4 players across these cups - notably all had all-round roles
The wicketkeeper and opening batsman, Kenny Otieno: 427 runs @ 22.5 with 4 fifties and a S/R of 52. 11 catches and 4 stumpings. Highlight: 12 Dismissals in '03 to go with 2 vital fifties(Both these knocks, 60 and 79 were more than double what any of his teammates scored in these matches)
The original captain, middle order batsman and offspinner Maurice Odumbe: 452 runs @ 30.1 with 3 fifties and a S/R of 73.1. 18 wickets @ 31. Highlight: Hitting 200+ runs, while averaging 42 and striking @ 103 in '03, to go with 9 wickets @ 25. Nuff said!
The young gun, big hitting pace bowling all-rounder Thomas Odoyo: 315 runs @ 26.2 and a S/R of 68.6. 16 wickets @ 35. Highlight: Striking at 100 in the slow scoring 1999 WC - his 117 tournament runs included 6 sixes.
and of course the champion batsman and occasional offie Steve Tikolo: 569 runs @ 30 with 6 fifties and a S/R of 66.7. 10 wickets @ 29.8. Highlight: Tikolo was Mr Consistent across these 3 cups, hell include 2007 too. He scored 2 fifties each in all 4 of these tournaments. Include 2007 in his stats and he ends up with 724 runs @ 34! But in 1996 he helped put his country on the map with 65 against India and 96 against Sri Lanka, which stayed the closest a Kenyan got to a World cup Century til 2011.
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