Nairobi abolishes 40-overs tourney

What you need to know:

  • The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) has scrapped off the 40-overs tournament from its calendar of events.
  • NPCA fixtures secretary, Narendra Patel, on Monday said that the association’s affiliates unanimously agreed that the 40-overs version of the game was not adding any value to them and asked for an extension of the Twenty20 event to cover periods.

The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) has scrapped off the 40-overs tournament from its calendar of events.

NPCA fixtures secretary, Narendra Patel, on Monday said that the association’s affiliates unanimously agreed that the 40-overs version of the game was not adding any value to them and asked for an extension of the Twenty20 event to cover periods.

He said: “If we had time, we would have had a 50-0vers knockout championship, but now the rainy season is approaching.”

NPCA’s Twenty20 overs event ended on Sunday, with Swamibapa successfully defending their title. Swamibapa beat Stray Lions by six wickets at the Sikh Union ground.

Kanbis are the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association 40-overs champions. The Lions are the NPCA Super league 50-overs champions. They are preparing for their title defence starting in June.

NPCA has toyed with the idea of introducing the longer version of the game as advised by former West Indies cricket star-turned-coach, Roger Harper, during the 2006 end of year party at Parklands Sports Club.

Before Harper, ICC’s high performance manager, the late Bob Woolmer from South Africa, had advised Kenya Cricket Association to introduce the longer version of the game to help local cricketers improve their game.