Cricket in Kenya

Kisumu, Kenya
View of Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground in Kisumu

Cricket is the second most popular sport in Kenya. Kenya has competed in the Cricket World Cup since 1996. They upset some of the World's best teams and reached semi-finals of the 2003 tournament. They also won the inaugural World Cricket League Division 1 hosted in Nairobi and participated in the World T20. Their most successful player is Steve Tikolo.

Cricket has always been played only at club level in cities like Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and central province. But there never was a competition where these cities played each other until the Zonal League was started.

Following initial colonisation by the Portuguese, Kenya gradually came under British influence in the latter part of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. Cricket was probably introduced to the country in the 1880s.

The first match of note was "East African Protectorate v Rest of the World" at Mombasa in December 1899.

From 1910, a series of games called Officials v Settlers was established and ran until 1964.

In 1914, a Kenyan team crossed the border into Uganda and defeated their hosts by 5 wickets at Entebbe.

Cricket Kenya is the official ICC recognised organisation chosen to represent Kenya in terms of cricket issues. Kenya broke away from the East and Central Africa Cricket Conference in 1981 and joined the ICC in their own right as an Associate member. Cricket Kenya are also Associate members of the African Cricket Association.

The National cricket competition in Kenya is also known as Zonal League. It is a four team cricket competition created by Cricket Kenya featuring a Twenty20 tournament, a one day cricket tournament and finally a three-day cricket tournament. For the inaugural league four teams will be competing consisting of the 60 best players according to Cricket Kenya from Kenya.