Kenya 's cricket officials are set to announce the launch of a national elite league with matches starting in November this year.
The proposals are for a four-side zonal league in which teams will play in three formats - three-day, one-day and Twenty20.
The zonal sides will be geographically based, with it appearing likely that two will come from Nairobi, one from the Coast and one from the other regions.
Sources said the disclosure was made during a crisis meeting held between the association, players and technical bench to review Kenya's disappointing performance at the ICC world twenty20 tournament.
During the meeting players also suggested that more emphasis be put in developing junior cricket.
The East Africans' below par performance at the on going ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa was a cause for major concern for the stakeholders.
The national team exited the event earlier than expected after a 9-wicket loss to New Zealand and 172 runs defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka.
Players in the centrally-contracted national squad will be divided between the four sides to ensure there is balance between the teams and to ensure that the standard of all matches is as high as possible.
In practice, that will probably mean that each team has seven local players supplemented with four members of the national side.
Cricket Kenya Chairman Samir Inamdar said the league will make it easier for the selectors to distinguish players who are good at each of the formats rather than having the same squad throughout.
"This will give ample opportunity for people to play for the zones who will be able to show us what they can do in each type of format," Samir Inamdar, CK's chairman said.
"The selectors will then be able to distinguish between players who are good at one format but not at another, rather than have the same squad throughout."
Inamdar admitted that getting sides out for three-day matches could pose the biggest problem.
Most non-contracted players are unavailable in the week, and five players who were invited to join the national squad as they prepared for the ICC World Twenty20 all declined because of work commitments.
To work round this Inamdar said that three-day matches might be played over long weekends or scheduled to coincide with public holidays.
Cricket Kenya is in the meantime seeking an overall tournament sponsor and expects a grant of over 1.3 million shillings from the Africa Cricket Association to help cover costs.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article