The Fall Of Kenyan Cricket

If you take your memory back to the year 2003, you would probably remember that Kenya did make it to the semi finals of the World Cup held that year. 2003 was indeed the Golden Year of Kenyan Cricket where they had defeated the likes of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe on their way to the semi finals - only to be knocked out by a much stronger Indian team. However it must be contented that their heroics at that particular tournament earned them the respect of cricketing fans from around the world.

However since then the journey has been downhill for them and their performance at the 2011 World Cup was nothing short of being dismal. They ended up loosing all their league matches, failing to script a victory even against the much lower ranked Canadian Cricket team. 

Now, when I try to analyse the causes of this downfall, the one reason that instantly comes to my mind is the lack of adequate international exposure - something that hurt them badly. Even after their wonderful performance in the 2003 world cup, they did not get enough matches (against quality opposition) and this did have a negative impact on their prospects.  

Even though Bangladesh had fared no better (if not worse); they were awarded matches against quality opposition on a regular basis, while the Kenyan team had to be contented with the occasional matches that came their way. 

It would be worth noting that after the 2003 world cup, Kenya played just 3 International matches in the year 2003 and a dismal 2 matches in the year 2004. During the same period Bangladesh played a staggering 33 One Day International (ODI) matches, all of them against higher ranked opponents. It would be worth mentioning here that Bangladesh lost all 33 matches during the 2 year period. 

No one knows why Kenyan cricket was so partially treated by the ICC and I definitely feel that they did deserved much more than what they got. 

What are your views on this topic? Do share them below.