According to a report in Kampala's Monitor newspaper, the Africa Cup, scheduled to be held in South Africa in December, has been postponed until May next year. Cricket Kenya has confirmed this saying the reason they were given for the postponement was "insufficient planning time". This is disappointing for Kenya, as it now means the national team goes through December with no competitive cricket to prepare them for the European tours in January and the WCL that follows. Cricket Kenya are understandably upset, but this is really a blow to each of the Associates expected to play. With the scarcity of international cricket at the lower levels, Uganda, Tanzania and Namibia would all have been looking forward to this series and will now have to wait several months before they are due to play again, and that at a time that may clash with some of their few existing fixtures.

As an excuses go, “insufficient planning time” is pretty poor. How much time exactly do the ACA and hosts South Africa need to organize a tournament? After all, it has been in the pipeline for almost a year. Surely something could and should have been sorted out earlier than a last-minute cop out.
This marks a sad end to a year that has shown great improvement by the African Associates. All the national bodies are working hard to improve their respective teams and structure and they could be forgiven for feeling betrayed that their governing body is not giving better support. Let’s hope the ACA get their act together in time for the rescheduled event in 2007.