I saw Kalpesh when he played for Kenya at U-19 level and back then he bowled in a very similar way to Terry Alderman, the former Australia bowler. He got very close to the stumps as he bowled and looked to swing the ball away from the bat. Since then, he has worked with Mudassar Nasar (the former Pakistan Test allrounder who has coached Kenya) and has developed his ability to reverse swing the ball, which has added an extra string to his bowling armoury. The downside of that is that he has become a bit too reliant on reverse swing and what we are trying to do is to give him more confidence to bowl with the newer ball and swing the ball in orthodox fashion. We are also trying to get him to bowl mid-crease because he has the tendency to go wide of the cease when he bowls. Having said all that about his bowling, I think Kalpesh will probably develop into more of a batsman who bowls rather than a genuine all-rounder although it would be great if he could excel in both disciplines. As a batsman he is what you would call a busy player, short in stature but quite compact in his style and superbly quick between the wickets. In one sense Kalpesh is an allrounder already because he is a superb fielder, one of the best we have here at the WTC. He arrived late at the WTC because he was with the Kenya team on their tour of Zimbabwe and at the finals of the ICC Intercontinental Cup but you would never have known it because he has slotted into the group very easily and has become a really popular player with his peers and all the coaches. Kalpesh is a real team player and has the potential to develop and what he must now do is put the skills he is learning at the WTC into action in game scenarios.
Andy Moles November 2005

Mar 16, 2006

Kenya's Kalpesh Patel bats at the nets

© AFP

Feb 6, 2000

Halpesh Patel, Portrait

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