Cricket Kenya’s announcement that Uganda will conduct a brief tour of Kenya at the end of January is welcome news. It not only reaffirms their commitment to helping the lower ranked teams in the region, but also gives much needed experience to at least two Kenya sides. The tour kicks off with a match against an NPCA XI on the 24th, followed by a matches against Canada and Bermuda as well as either Kenya or Kenya A – it has not yet been decided which. With the game scheduled only 4 days before the first World Cricket League match, there are pros and cons either way.

From Uganda’s point of view, they get to play two of the top Associates when they meet Canada and Bermuda, so the quality of opposition should not be an issue. Indeed, they may prefer to play Kenya ‘A’, who they beat in the Atul Shah trophy, rather than the full Kenya team who proved a class above when the two met in November.

From Kenya’s point of view, the full team will have already played a full warm up series against Scotland and Canada and may need the extra time to rest and recover from any minor injuries before the WCL starts. Certainly it would not make sense to risk key players so soon before such an important event if they are already well warmed up. While it would be good for the team’s confidence to rack up another win going into the WCL, surely the greater long term benefit would be for the A team to be given the experience. It may be that Cricket Kenya will hold off on the decision on the playing eleven for this game until they see how the players come out of the tri series.

While it is great to see Uganda being invited for this trip, it also seems a missed opportunity to give more Kenyan players a taste of representative cricket. NPCA players will benefit from their game against Kenya’s neighbours, but those at the Coast and Rift Valley miss out. Uganda may feel that after beating the CCA in the Atul Shah trophy, they want to play sterner opposition, but the tour should be made to work both ways. They get the tough matches against the Associates and there would be definite positives in warming up against all three provinces rather than just one. Both the CCA and Rift Valley leagues will be active at the time of the tour, so there is no reason both could not also field sides.

Aside from a longer tour giving the Ugandans more games, it would give all three of Kenya’s main cricket-playing provinces competitive cricket. What better way to take the next step towards making the inter-provincial tournament a reality? Due to begin in November, this was postponed by Cricket Kenya until after the WCL as they believed successfully hosting and winning the tournament should take top priority. How Uganda fared against the provinces would have provided good indications of whether they and Tanzania should be invited by Cricket Kenya to take part in the event as well. Having a regional tournament incorporating the top players from not only each of Kenya’s provinces, but also the two neighbouring countries, would not only do wonders for the standard of cricket in the region, but would also be more attractive to potential sponsors than an all-Kenyan affair.

Cricket Kenya have so far done exceptionally well in organising fixtures for the national team, but so far there has only been a little attention paid to developing the domestic game. This tour provides the start of the exposure that is needed to strengthen the tier below national level. If only it could have been taken that one step further to build on the excitement created by the WCL and World Cup it would truly have been a huge boost.