The Kenya ladies team that will open their campaign at Peponi School against favourites Tanzania sees six changes to the team that lost to Tanzania last December.

Peris Adhiambo, Dorline Adhiambo and Ruth Mwihaki have been selected after missing out last time while Perlyne Omamo, Virginia Wanjiku and Emily Ruto have also been selected. The three did not attend training for the previous meeting between the two sides.

Dorline will be joining her two elder sisters Mary Belle and Margret Banja in a team that will be captained by Omamo. Others in the team are, Yvonne Mashedi, Maria Emi, Sarah Bhakita, Mercline Adhiambo and Malyun Hassan. Banja, Belle and Dorline Adhiambo are sisters to Lameck Onyango and Nehemiah Odhiambo and Banja and Belle will be expected to emulate their brothers in the bowling department.

With a recent change in coaches, there has also been a fair amount of chopping and changing in the batting order with players who have batted at the top order being put to bat at nine and below.

It will be interesting to see what role Ruto will play in the team as she has hardly bowled in the warm up matches even though she is the most experienced. Only in the last match they played did she bowl with 5 overs to go and picked up 3 wickets. There is also concern over regular Sarah Bhakita who has been changed to a spin bowler from an opening bowler with only a week to go before the tournament.

With little regular ladies cricket organised by the authorities, the chances of the team wining this tournament are still seen slim as in previous events. The only person to have played regular cricket since December last year is Emily Ruto who turns out for Kongonis B in the NPCA league. If Kenya are ever going to be a force in the region in ladies cricket, this must be addressed. Either the ladies team must be incorporated into the lower division of the local leagues as in some other Associates, or preferably, a separate ladies league needs to be set up.

Unlike the Under 15 boys’ team, the ladies will go into the event as serious underdogs. Kenyan fans will be hoping they can cause an upset over their more fancied opponents.