Jackie JanMohammed, can Kenyan Cricket be re-born?

Congratulations Mrs. Jackie Janmohammed for scoring a first on many counts in the muddled waters of Kenyan sport! It's another milestone for women in this part of the world and also for those in the cricket game. Enough with the pleasantries!

Jackie Janmohammed - image courtesy of AFP

The hardwork starts now. Former Cricket Kenya CEO Samir Inamdar waxed lyrical of leaving the sports association with the whole bag of monies and 'structures'. But his legacy is best underscored by the dismal performances that the Kenyan national team and loss of supremacy among other non-Test nations that were close to the Test playing status.

Another piece of baggage you might have to deal with is the chasm created between the various branches which led to two of the main branches boycotting the elections. This one is not your undoing but the earlier you win them into your fold the better it will be for the game.

There is also another disturbing observation and related to the point of the various branches. Among the top officials, there is not a single representative of the two branches. There is also no representation of what would be called 'indigenous' representation. A cursory look at officials elected in Sunday's elections, none come outside of the Asian/Muslim communities. Part of the causes of the schisms  in the previous office was because of this 'race' issue. It is an unspoken evil but one which continues to haunt the game. The psyche in some of the teams and to some extent in the national team does reflect in their performances. Mrs. Jackie, you will need all the lawyering expertise to sail through these murky waters. It's never a cup of tea but it's the reality on the field.

Some goodwill inherited from the old order is the media rights that were secured with SuperSport to screen some of the East African cricket games. That is another channel you might want to approach for both the local league and national games. TV has been known to transform many a sport and cricket will be no different. Work your magic with the corporates and that balance sheet that Inamdar & Co left will look like a mockery of what revenues and sponsorship you may attract.

Appointing a worthy CEO, another brief waiting for your delivery. The previous CEO Tom Sears left in a huff claiming to have been under security threats among a host of other issues. It will be important that the next CEO comes from a rigorous and all-inclusive process. His/her brief should be delivery the game back to its glory days and ensuring a vibrant national league as well as the reaffirming Kenya's supremacy among non-Test playing nations. There is also the national coach issue. You might want to start that on a clean slate or is it a fresh pair of hands?

The issue of development of talent from the lower rungs and to provide players for both club and country is something else to look into. You might need to borrow a few notes from Mr. Janmohammed who was part of the development team in the early 2000s when the rain starting beating Kenyan cricket hard. You should also involve some of the former and senior players in these development plans. That a player like Maurice Odumbe is still able to put together a tidy number of runs as well as run the field like the days of yore before he was demonised is something to you can use to inspire the younger lads. Kenyan sport has never been known to pay tribute to its former stars but you can change the tide with that in cricket.

Do not sit in the beautiful offices that host Cricket Kenya's office in Ruaraka but do a lot of legwork in the clubs in Ngara, Parklands, down in Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu. That way you will learn a little bit more than what those fancy reports may say on paper. You can have a word with some of the groundsmen on those fields. They may know a thing or two that will give you better insights into the game.

Lastly we have 2015 World Cup coming up and Kenya's participation is currently in dire straits as we lie 6th ICC World Cricket League championship, with 2 games to play. The two top teams of this League will automatically qualify for the Cricket World Cup.But this is almost in vain though there is one last reprieve of the qualifying tournament in 2014. If Kenya can finish in a respectable position in his League and get its act together by 2014, we should be the suprise package once again in the 2015 hoping to repeat the heroics of the 1996 and 2003 national teams.

Mrs. Jackie it's your call, score a century or get bowled out!  

Kenyan Sporting Families: Now you know where the pedigree comes from

Tikolos, Dunfords, Sudis,  Ilakos, among many others are household names in the Kenyan sporting scene . Yes as you may noticed, most of them had plurals because there is more than one member of the family that has made their cut in different sporting discipline or more than one member makes the cut in a particular sport.

Take for example the Tikolos; a few weeks ago we saw the end of an era when the last of the cricket playing brothers from the Tikolo family, Steve retired from the sport after gracing it for more than 15 years having won many hearts in the country and across the seas. His other famous brothers who also one time held the position of Chief Executive at Cricket Kenya Tom and also former player David.

Other famous siblings in cricket include the Sujis (Martin and Tony), Obuyas (Kennedy, Collins and David) Ngoches ( James and Shem) and the Odumbes (Maurice and Edward).

The Obuyas - Image from www.kiranonlycricket.blogspot.com

The Ilakos you ask? Well there was a time Kenya played for the African zone of the Davis Cup in tennis. One of the players playing for Kenya was Philip Ilako (nowadays he’s MD of some mid-level bank I guess). The other playing Ilako was James.

Dunfords, who doesn’t know the exploits of these brothers in the pools of the African Swimming Championships, All-Africa Games, Commonwealth and also the Olympics (albeit briefly). Jason is the trailblazer with David spoiling for a place on the podium slowly but surely. Their other less famous brother Robert plays rugby in the UK where’s attending college.

From Left - David & Jason Dunford with a lady & gent fan - Image courtesy of www.sky it

Rugby has many household names but the current ones taking the lion’s share are Humphrey Kayange and Collins Injera while their younger brother Michael has some uphill task trying to make at least the national team like the two elder ones. Their father is also a former rugby player back in the day.

We have Daniel Rudisha one of the gold medallists in the 4x400m Munich Olympic Games whose son David Lekuta Rudisha did one better breaking the world record and literally scorching the tracks last season in the IAAF circuit to emerge as World Athlete of the Year as well as Kenya’s Sportman of the Year.

The family that is hogging much of the media’s attention now is the Wanyamas. The matriarch one Noah Wanyama started it all playing with AFC Leopards and also the national team Harambee Stars. His sons have followed suit with Sylvester –Sony Sugar, Thomas – Sofapaka FC , with Victor Mugabe making history as Kenya’s first football player in the Scottish League signing with Celtic FC and of course the most famous of the Wanyama’s MacDonald Mariga Wanyama Inter Milan’s FC defensive midfielder. Their sister Mercy Ayitso has also recently obtained a scholarship in the California Baptist University which plays in the NCAA women's basketball league.

As has happened in other sporting fields, these families have led the way in winning accolades for their clubs, countries and securing honour and a place in history. For all you seeking a firm place in sport and have a sibling or two in one or another game, you have it written and trendsetters to learn from.

Collins Injera & Humphrey Kayange perform a celebratory dance after a try

As a country, we also have to learn to honour our sporting heroes something we have not always done all too well. Their place to some of us sporting enthusiasts is forever etched in our minds and firmly in the history of our country.

Do Kenyan Sports Personalities have PR experts?

As the year came to a close, the sporting world was treated to some not so interesting news of Kenya's Samuel Wanjiru's alleged wife battery and consequent prosecution. As usual media houses were quick to pick on the item and some went to the extent of interviewing the wife and causing quite some embarrassment for the athlete{do a quick search of his name on Google News and see the results}.

What did I do now? 

Not that we excuse sports personalities behaviours, but do Kenyan sports personalities engage in proper PR services? Why we ask?
The aforementioned is bound to suffer some damages not just in trying to recover for the year's engagements, but also current and future endorsements. The psychological effects will almost surely see performances dwindle too.
This reminds me of one of Kenya's more famous cricket men, one Maurice Odumbe. The issues that affected this Kenyan sportman left him all the worse off and though he has tried making a comeback, we all know he might never recover to play for the national team.
Dennis 'The Menace' Oliech - that middle nickname didn't come from his comparison to some famous comic character rather more for his erratic behaviour off the pitch and more so on the local social scene. He had his brother as agent (and maybe PR too but we all know where he was headed). A little more sombre nowadays, he has made some positive changes, maybe the professional colleagues at Auxerre 'ironed him' out on that one.
The list is long of other sports personalities. How they manage the crisis and get out of it requires some inspired PR spin and obviously not for the faint hearted. There are those that manage to comeback and of course the athlete too has to help his or her cause by putting on some great performances.
In the increasingly small world that we are developing to, use of social media and such other platforms can be used to improve the image. Of course, social media has its misgivings of not being within too much control unlike traditional media channels, but if your fans understand you and believe in you genuinely beyond life's bumpy rides, it can be a powerful tool to consider.
As for Samuel Wanjiru, sharing experiences with Tiger Woods, Wayne Rooney or one American footballer Michael Vicks might help shake off some of the bad omen and get the career back on track.

New Cricket Coach Expected in- Any Hope for Kenyan Cricket?

After having one of the lowest ebbs in Kenyan cricket in recent times, Cricket Kenya has a new coach coming into the country this week.
Logo courtesy of Cricket Kenya

Eldine Baptiste from the West Indies has a plateful to start with. He needs to inspire our boys back into the form of the mid and late 1990s to early 2000s.He might be able to awe us with his exploits having played alongside one of cricket's greats, Viv Richards.
He might get aided by the fact that Kenya's talismanic cricketer, one Maurice Odumbe is back in the crease and might be eligible to play in next year's Cricket World Cup. We surely hope he will be more handy than Andy Kirsten who didn't get us going. Maybe Cricket Kenya knows a thing or two about his non-performance thus the need to renew his contract.