***Official** Zimbabwe in Kenya

[alvarez]

Interesting selection dilemma's coming up for Kenya, especially if you look at the averages from this series.

Several established players have just not fired and must feel under threat. Bhudia surely has done enough to earn a regular place and Odhiambo clearly needs to be rested.

I still can't understand why Onyango who is 35 gets the nod over Otieno (21) unless the latter is injured. 2009 could well be a rebuilding year for Kenya even if we qualify for the WC.

I'd have to say Patel wont be in there much longer. Ouma must be skating on thin ice and agree with you on Onyango. Is there any chance with such an important series coming up that Aga and Mishra would make themselves available? Wishful thinking and i'm just repeating myself now.

 

[andruid]

Interesting selection dilemma's coming up for Kenya, especially if you look at the averages from this series.

Several established players have just not fired and must feel under threat. Bhudia surely has done enough to earn a regular place and Odhiambo clearly needs to be rested.

I still can't understand why Onyango who is 35 gets the nod over Otieno (21) unless the latter is injured. 2009 could well be a rebuilding year for Kenya even if we qualify for the WC.

I have this strange notion he is unavailable cos he has either gone to Uni or is doing A levels but Cricket Kenya ever say?

 

[TT Boy]

Hoping for a biggie from Masakadza.

Cool and 50 for Williams.

 

[andruid]

In a word this series was shambolic.

 

[Athlai]

Kenya

 

[TT Boy]

Kenya

Not a good series but they should still have enough in the tank to make it to the WC. Waters despite a poor series is going to be a decent to good opener whilst the absence of Odoyo is huge. Thomas is up there with Ryan ten Doeschate as the best associate cricketer going.

 

[alvarez]

Was a poor series from the Kenyans for sure. If they could field the following team i'd tip them to cruise through qualifiers: Waters, K.Otieno, Obanda, Tikolo, Mishra, C.Obuya, Odoyo, Aga, Bhudia, Varaiya, Ongondo. Reserves: Kamande, D.Obuya, E.Otieno, Ouma, Luseno. Prob should've posted this in non test playing nations thread. Oh well. This is if all those players were available of course.

 

[andruid]

Not a good series but they should still have enough in the tank to make it to the WC. Waters despite a poor series is going to be a decent to good opener whilst the absence of Odoyo is huge. Thomas is up there with Ryan ten Doeschate as the best associate cricketer going.

True, the middle order was utterly rudderless and the seam bowlers lacked control and were expensive, both things I suspect down to Odoyo's absence. I certinly hope there is some dressing down going on in the dressing room cos even counting for that it was a less than acceptable showing from the team.

Nonetheless there actually were positives. Kamande continues to bat well and could have been the future (were he not 30), Him an in form Obanda and a fully fit Odoyo and Collins Obuya could from a very solid middle order. Throw in Tikolo and Ouma (not the Ouma who scratches around for entirely too long then gives out his wicket for very little) and that could be a really manacing middle order. Both openersneed a big score soon, for the sake of confidence.

Hopefully the World cup Qualifiers will see Kenya witha lineup looking something like this.

1. Seren Waters
2. Kennedy Otieno
3. Alex Obanda
4. *Steve Tikolo
5. +Morris Ouma
6. Collins Obuya
7. Thomas Odoyo[b2]
8. James Kamande
9. Ragheb Aga/Rajesh Bhudia[b3]
10. Hiren Varaiya[b4]
11. Peter Ongondo[b1]

With Tikolo, Obuya and Kamande sharing 5th bowler duties

 

[TT Boy]

True, the middle order was utterly rudderless and the seam bowlers lacked control and were expensive, both things I suspect down to Odoyo's absence. I certinly hope there is some dressing down going on in the dressing room cos even counting for that it was a less than acceptable showing from the team.

Nonetheless there actually were positives. Kamande continues to bat well and could have been the future (were he not 30), Him an in form Obanda and a fully fit Odoyo and Collins Obuya could from a very solid middle order. Throw in Tikolo and Ouma (not the Ouma who scratches around for entirely too long then gives out his wicket for very little) and that could be a really manacing middle order. Both openersneed a big score soon, for the sake of confidence.

Hopefully the World cup Qualifiers will see Kenya witha lineup looking something like this.

1. Seren Waters
2. Kennedy Otieno
3. Alex Obanda
4. *Steve Tikolo
5. +Morris Ouma
6. Collins Obuya
7. Thomas Odoyo[b2]
8. James Kamande
9. Ragheb Aga/Rajesh Bhudia[b3]
10. Hiren Varaiya[b4]
11. Peter Ongondo[b1]

With Tikolo, Obuya and Kamande sharing 5th bowler duties

Hopefully Waters gets the ok to play - don' the WC Qualifiers occur when the county season is beginning?

 

[Steulen]

Not a good series but they should still have enough in the tank to make it to the WC. Waters despite a poor series is going to be a decent to good opener whilst the absence of Odoyo is huge. Thomas is up there with Ryan ten Doeschate as the best associate cricketer going.

Random RTD mention. Good man.

 

[andruid]

Hopefully Waters gets the ok to play - don' the WC Qualifiers occur when the county season is beginning?

The qualys have priority and Scotland have named their county pros

 

[TT Boy]

The qualys have priority and Scotland have named their county pros

Cool. I knew the Dutch had their county pros (ten Doeschate, Nannes and Kervezee).

 

[Chubb]

This has been a very encouraging series for Zimbabwe. It would be foolish to herald the dawn of a new era, but there is no doubt that they have improved- by how much is difficult to quantify, but they did do well. All the players except Dabengwa contributed in some way and hopefully they can take the confidence they gained forward.

It is however extremely disappointing to see the Herald trying to use this series as a means to attack the "racists" who banned Chingoka et al. You can't expect anything better.

 

[Chemosit]

Very poor series from Kenya - only one game where they even looked like winning, and that they somehow contrived to lose.

Still, there are a couple of positives at least, mostly individual performances with the bat:

C Obuya
J Kamande
A Obanda
R Bhudia
H Varaiya

all made PBs with the bat. If they had been able to gel these together in the same match, things could have been a bit better.

Bhudia took his first wickets and showed signs that he could be the answer to the bowling all rounder role currently occupied by Odhiambo. Otherwise the bowling was pretty much a debacle. some serious work is needed here before the WCQs.

 

[andruid]

This has been a very encouraging series for Zimbabwe. It would be foolish to herald the dawn of a new era, but there is no doubt that they have improved- by how much is difficult to quantify, but they did do well. All the players except Dabengwa contributed in some way and hopefully they can take the confidence they gained forward.

It is however extremely disappointing to see the Herald trying to use this series as a means to attack the "racists" who banned Chingoka et al. You can't expect anything better.

Just like The Standard is likely to use this series as an excuse to attack the racists/incompetents/god knows what they will be labelled next...who run Cricket Kenya.