Too cool a day for hothouse flowers (19 May 1999)

19 May 1999

Too cool a day for hothouse flowers

Bryon Butler

A nice day, all things considered, for a hot toddy or three, buttered muffins and an ear cocked to commentary on that old steam radio in the parlour. It was so cruelly chill at the St Lawrence ground that flags of St George were proudly used to keep legs warm.

It is a wonder Kenya consented to turn out. It was hardly cricket inviting them to play cricket - World Cup cricket, carnival cricket - in green day-glo pyjamas when, by choice, they'd have plumped for overcoats, woolly hats and mufflers. They only flourish, like hothouse flowers, when the temperature is in the 90s.

Here, in short, was rather a weary Canterbury tale: half an inch of rain overnight, traffic jams, diversions round the Kent countryside, the start delayed by an hour and a half, a mess-up over the length of the interval (too long by nearly 20 minutes) and a finish in gloom and drizzle. No chance of a hot toddy, either. The ban on booze was absolute.

But every cricket day has its blessings - and if Kenya aren't world-beaters, not yet, there was a precious hour and a half early on when they looked England squarely and soberly in the eye. This was when Steve Tikolo and Ravindu Shah were putting on exactly 100 for Kenya's second wicket. Hosts and 500-1 outsiders were sweetly matched and somewhere near the heart and spirit of this global tournament. Good stuff.

Both Kenyan batsmen have played club cricket in England but there the similarity ended. Tikolo, Kenya's star of stars, went into the match with 19 runs from three knocks. Ravindu Shah arrived in better nick with an average of over 50. And together, for a while, they made England's bowlers look ordinary.

Tikolo, an unorthodox cruiserweight, was always ready to improvise and gamble. He used the swat, flash, hump, nurdle and reverse sweep but, whatever stroke he employed, his bat on ball sounded like the crack of a rifle shot. Ravindu Shah, tall, straight, more elegant, contributed 46 to a partnership which threatened England with a sizeable target.

But then Ravindu Shah was caught behind, Tikolo lost the strike almost permanently, and Kenya's dreams floated away like a passing cloud. Thomas Odoyo clouted 34 to show why he's sometimes known as the African Botham. One day, perhaps, Botham will be known as the English Odoyo.

Around a third of the crowd left long before the end, perfectly reasonably. Kent may be one of the cradles of the game, this might have been Canterbury's first representative match, and the World Cup is definitely the World Cup - but a one-sided match in Decemberish conditions can be abandoned without much pain.

That, however, was it. Kenya flourished and faded and left England to win much as they pleased. Kenya may have disappointed themselves, but nobody else. They always do their best, and their best is slowly getting better.

Kenya have won one-day international status: they are still, officially, 10th in the world at this version of the game; and their chairman Jinny Rayani says their long-term aim is to become a Test-playing country. It'll be one of the items on the agenda at next month's ICC meeting.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)