Kenya open their Intercontinental cup campaign against Canada today at Nairobi Gymkhana in what the Kenyan media have dubbed the ‘revenge match’. Revenge for whom is not quite clear – Kenya lost to Canada in the Intercontinental Cup in the thriller in Toronto last year, so will clearly see this game as a chance to rectify that, while Canada are still smarting from their loss to Kenya in the World cup.

Canada have brought a very different , some say weakened, side to Kenya from their World Cup squad and the hosts will be hoping that the lack of experience in the Canadian side counters the lack of game time that many of the Kenyan players have had. On paper, both sides have strong bowling attacks, but look suspect in terms of batting. Kenya have struggled in this department over the last year and Canada failed to bat out the 50 overs against an inexperienced Kenya A side earlier in the week. Kenya will as usual look to Captain Steve Tikolo for inspiration and will hope that their openers will for once stand firm and set a good platform. No Mishra, absent for personal reasons, means that youngster Alex Obanda is likely to come in early and the team will be hoping he can build on his Logan Cup experience.

Canada’s main bowling hopes rest on the new ball bowlers Henry Osinde and Umar Bhatti, but with Osinde only able to bowl 6.1 overs against Kenya A, they may have to bring on a change bowler earlier than expected. Durand Soraine bowled well against Kenya A taking 2/36 and Captain Sunil Dhaniram is always reliable. Kenya too have a good new ball attack with Peter Ongondo and Thomas Odoyo both setting personal records in 2007. The big question for the Kenyan selectors is which combination of change bowlers are used. Alfred Luseno has been included in the squad and his pace could well pay dividends, but Elijah Otieno along with brothers Nehemiah Odhiambo and Lameck Onyango have all done enough recently to also stake claims to a spot. Hiren Varaiya, Jimmy Kamande and Steve Tikolo are likely to head the spin department with Varaiya in particular looking to continue his good record against Canada.

Entry to the grounds is free for both this game and the ODIs to follow, so there should be good support for Kenya in what is an important match for both teams. A win for Canada would put them top of the table, while Kenya know that they must take full advantage of playing at home before a series of tricky away games next year against some of the tougher teams in the competition. Kenya have so far failed to win this tournament and as the supposed leading Associate this rankles. Despite the lack of competitive cricket, expect Steve Tikolo’s men to come out all guns blazing when they take the field today.