Cricket Kenya have gone with a largely unchanged line up for Kenya's opening Intercontinental Cup match against Canada which starts at the Nairobi Gymkhana ground on Friday. A big surprise is the exclusion of promising youngster Tanmay Mishra. The 20 year old was one of the best performing batsmen for Kenya over the last 12 months and his exclusion when other players who have fared far worse are included is perplexing to say the least. Rajesh Bhudia is the only other casualty from the squad that went to South Africa for the Twenty-20 World Cup, his place taken by the more experienced and faster Alfred Luseno. Bhudia's exclusion is again surprising, especially considering that his club Kanbis have all but cemented their fourth straight title in the NPCA Super Division and yet now have no representatives in the national side.

By far the greatest gamble though is that despite having played no competitive cricket for at least a month, Swamibapa are represented by no fewer than 8 players out of the 14 man squad. This is a huge leap of faith on the behalf of the selectors, especially after a very similar Kenyan team were accused of being unfit and out of shape when they turned up for the pre-World Cup training camp. Retaining players who had shown no commitment then and who have not had the chance to play competitive cricket since could be disastrous. Kenyan fans will be hoping that the selectors faith in the players is rewarded otherwise they will be asking some searching questions as to why the form players from the NPCA league have been left out, especially virtually the same squad as this was humiliated both at the Twenty-20 World Cup and by India A and Sri Lanka A before.

On paper, this is still a strong side and if Steve Tikolo can lead from the front, if Odoyo and Ongondo do their job with the new ball and the younger players can perform to the expectations many have had for them, Kenya can still give their visitors a tough time. There are however a lot of 'ifs' involved and it will not be with a lot of confidence that fans wend their way to Gymkhana over the weekend.

Kenya Squad:

1. Steve Tikolo (Swamibapa)
2. Thomas Odoyo [Vice Captain] (Ngara)
3. Alex Obanda (Swamibapa)
4. Collins Obuya (Stray Lions)
5. Peter Ongondo (Swamibapa)
6. Nehemiah Odhiambo (Swamibapa)
7. Morris Ouma (Swamibapa)
8. Elijah Otieno (Swamibapa)
9. Hiren Variaya (Nbi Gymkhana)
10. David Obuya (Stray Lions)
11. James Kimande (Parklands
12. Tony Suji (Swamibapa)
13. Lameck Onyango (Swamibapa)
14. Alfred Luseno (Parklands)