Jonty Rhodes to assist Kenya's World Cup preparations

Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa batsman, will assist the Kenyan team in their preparations for the 2011 World Cup. Rhodes, who is widely regarded as one of the best fielders to have played the game, will work with the Kenya coach Eldine Baptiste during a three-week training camp in November, at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.

Rhodes, 41, played the last of his 52 Tests in 2000, though he continued to feature in South Africa's one-day plans until 2003. After retiring, he briefly worked with Pakistan as a fielding consultant and was the fielding coach for the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

"We are delighted to have secured Jonty's services to help the players in their preparation for the World Cup," Cricket Kenya's chief executive Tom Sears said. "Jonty has tremendous experience and is now one of the most innovative and highly sought after specialist coaches in world cricket, so this is a real coup for Cricket Kenya.

"Initially we are looking at an intense period during our training camp in South Africa but we are hopeful we can get Jonty involved in our final few weeks of preparation in the new year. There is no doubt our players can learn a tremendous amount from him and his input can make a real difference to our overall performance."