Whenever we talk about the sad stories of cricket, we usually bring up Zimbabwe. After a respectable 2003 World Cup campaign, the side would sadly take a steep downhill fall from grace.
With corruption and politics, the Zimbabwe national team was torn apart.
However there is another depressing story. Another African nation had a great tournament, and surprisingly it wasn’t the hosts South Africa. They didn’t pass the group stages.
Instead it was the humble cricketing nation of Kenya who would defy the odds and become everyone’s ‘second team’.
Kenya had already showed the cricketing world that they could beat a world-class side. In 1996 they defeated the mighty West Indians by 73 runs. However no one really gave the Kenyans a chance in the 2003 World Cup.
Kenya’s first match of the 2003 world cup was a forgettable one. They lost to South Africa by 10 wickets thanks to a smashing knock of 87 from Herschelle Gibbs.
Kenya would win their first game of the tournament against the Canadians, they would also take the points in their game against the Kiwis due to forfeit.
However it would be on the 24th of February that the entire cricketing world sit up and take notice. Sri Lanka had dominated the Canadians it their last match, bowling them out for a record low 36 runs.
The Sri Lankans wouldn’t have expected a real test against the East African minnows. However after 95 overs of cricket, the 1996 world champions had been defeated by 53 runs.
An amazing achievement for a team that no one had given a chance. Kenya would go on to defeat the disappointing Bangladesh side and lose to the West Indians by 142 runs. The Kenyans however had done enough to qualify for the super sixes stage, where they would go on to play India in the semis.
However not before the Kenyans gave the near invincible Australians a run for their money.
Sadly though, the fairytale would end on the 20th of March 2003. India would win the match by 91 runs thanks to a fine knock of 111 not out from Sourav Ganguly.
The fans, the players, and almost everyone were calling for the Kenyans to be given Test match status.
Unfortunately for Kenya, this never happened.
Aasif Karim, the man who took three wickets off 8.2 overs with an economy rate of .84 runs against the Australians recently told ESPNCricinfo that he believed that Kenyan cricket was dead and buried.
Just a year after Kenya’s world cup heroics, former captain Maurice Odumbe was found guilty of match fixing. However, it was not only individual greed that killed Kenyan cricket.
Karim believes that most of this had to do with the administrators. Karim declares that, “Our own house was not in order.” After the 2003 World Cup, Kenya only played 11 more ODIs against full members for the next three years, before the Kenyan Cricket Board was dissolved in 2006.
Kenya has failed to qualify for next year’s cricket world cup. Karim doesn’t believe that Kenya will ever have a better chance to join cricket’s elite again. He says, “It is beyond sad and painful.”
Lachlan is rare tweeter, however you can follow him @Lachy7Doyle
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