Kenyan team coming to Gujarat for warm-up matches

As part of their World Cup preparations, Kenya’s national cricket team will play five ‘List A’ (one-dayer) matches in Gujarat
next month. The visitors are likely to play three matches in Ahmedabad and two in Vadodara.

This is seen as a ‘return leg’ after Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) visited the African nation in August 2010.

Confirming the news, an BCA official said: “Yes, they are coming. They are likely to land on January 7. Before coming to Vadodara, they will play in Ahmedabad. This is a reciprocal tour as well as a study tour for them. Within a month of these contests, the World Cup starts.”

According to sources, a strong connection between Kenya and Gujarat is also one of the reasons why the African  nation is visiting the state.

While the chairman of the Cricket Kenya Committee is Samir Inamdar, Shamji Patel is the vice chairman. Another Gujarati, Nilesh Lakhani, is the development officer with Cricket Kenya.

“This is good for us too. Because our boys will get valuable practice before the Vijay Hazare West Zone tournament,” said the BCA official.

Former West Indies all-rounder, Eldine Baptiste, has been appointed the coach of Kenya and will be in charge of the team till June 2011. In order to realise their dream, the Antiguan is taking his team to non-Test nations for practice.

After playing in Uganda and Afghanistan in November, Kenyans will land in Ahmedabad in January. Baptiste successfully convinced former captain Steve Tikolo to come out of retirement. Tikolo has made himself available for the World Cup.

This means the star performer of 1999 edition (Tikolo) will be part of touring party.

The ICC World Cup kicks off in Dhaka on February 19 when two host nations, Bangladesh and India, lock horns at Shere Bangla National Stadium.