Cricket Kenya confirmed yesterday that national coach Roger Harper will be standing down after the Twenty-20 World Cup in South Africa. Harper, who has been instrumental in the restructuring and rebuilding phase of Kenyan cricket over the last two years, leaves due to family reasons - he has two young sons growing up in the Caribbean, and will be sorely missed by all in the Kenyan cricket fraternity, whom he leaves on good terms.

Having taken over at a time when Kenyan cricket, and by extension the national team, was in a state of shambles, the appointment of Harper brought some much needed discipline and stability to the national team. This was noted by Cricket Kenya Chairman Samir Inamdar when reluctantly accepting Harper's resignation.

On the field Harper had mixed results with the team, but throughout his tenure there has been a steady improvement shown by almost all players in the squad. For an unbroken 9 month period during 2006 and 2007 at least one Kenyan player improved his personal best in every game that the team played. That more than results indicates the quality of Harper as a coach and the way in which Kenya's players responded to his training.

Despite going out in the first round of the World Cup, he can look back on a successful stint as national coach and his shoes will be hard to fill for the Kenyan board. After steering Kenya to victory in the WCL Division 1 in January and hence qualifying for the Twenty-20 World Cup it is fitting that he has chosen this tournament as his last as Kenyan coach. It is a tough ask, but Kenya's players will no doubt have that extra bit of incentive to cause an upset over Sri Lanka or New Zealand and prolong his stay for an extra few matches by qualifying for the second round.

Cricket Kenya have already put out an advertisement for a new coach, whose tenure will take him through to after the World Cup Qualifiers in June 2009. Whoever the new coach is, he will inherit a disciplined and improving side. If he can continue the good work started by Harper, Kenya will still be in a good position vis-a-vis the other Associates. As for Harper, he will be sorely missed in Kenya, but will also be followed with interest as he continues to grow his reputation as a coach back in his homeland.