Cricket Kenya launches national league

Cricket Kenya is set to announce the launch of a national elite league with matches starting this November.

In the aftermath of Kenya's performances at the ICC World Twenty20 there was widespread media criticism of the fact that there was no such competition, but it emerges that the board's plans were already at an advanced stage.

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.

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.

"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, told Cricinfo. "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.

CK is seeking corporate sponsors for each region to help offset travel costs, and also an overall tournament sponsor. It is likely to receive a US$20,000 grant from the Africa Cricket Association to help cover costs.