Kenya XI-Oman cricket friendly called off

What you need to know:

  • Match umpires inspected the square and found wet spots on one side of the pitch.

Kenya XI’s game against Oman at the Nairobi Jaffreys ground was call off Thursday because of a wet wicket.

Match umpires inspected the square and found wet spots on one side of the pitch.

Top Kenyan umpires, David “Pamba” Odhiambo said: "We decided to call off the game when we spotted wet spots on the pitch that was caused by rain waters that sipped through the covers after the rainfall that fell at Lavington on Wednesday evening.”

He added: “We felt that the wet ground could result in an uneven bounce when the ball was bowled and that could be dangerous to the batsman facing it.”

Commenting on the performance of his boys, Kenya coach, Thomas Odoyo said: “There was immense improvement in our players winning three matches and losing none without key members like skipper Rakep Patel and Nehemiah Odhiambo, who are nursing injuries and Irfan Karim who is playing second division England county cricket.”

Odoyo said the team should have more friendly games either in the country or away where wickets are almost similar to the ones in Nairobi as part of their preparations for the ICC World Cricket League Championship against the Dutch set for Nairobi Gymkhana in October 6 to 8.

Kenya will take part in the third edition of Africa T20 Championship in South Africa that runs from August 25 to September 25. It  will bring together national squads from Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe, to fight it out with 13 South Africa’s provincial sides.

Oman, Malaysia and Singapore stopped over in Nairobi for build-up matches as part of their preparations for the ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament that kicks off in Kampala from May 23 to 30.

Other teams taking part in the championship are USA, Canada and hosts Uganda. The top two teams in Kampala will be promoted to the next level, ICC World Cricket League Division Two.

Even though Uganda team was not taking part in the Nairobi friendly matches, their Kenyan born national team coach, Steve Tikolo, is in  town accompanied by a few players and a match analyser who was taking video of the games.

Playing at home, Uganda start as favourite to win the championship.