Retired cricket stars to meet in Kenya in July

Representational pictureRetired world cricket stars will return to the Nairobi Gymkhana cricket pitch to relive their flashy heyday when they meet in Nairobi for the inaugural Legends Cup scheduled to take place from July 19 to July 28 The tenday tournament organised by Crickeley Management Ltd will feature three franchise teams comprising players from Kenya South Africa Zimbabwe West Indies and England Asia team that includes India Pakistan Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and Asia Pacific bringing together players from Australia and New Zealand Xinhua reportedWe want to bring back the cricket culture and the excitement that goes with the game through the tournament We have realised that part of the reason Kenyan cricket has declined rapidly is lack of proper role models for our young players to look up to Chidambaran Subramanian the chairman of the organising committee said on Monday To set the ball rolling two legends of the Indian cricket team Sayeed Kirmani and Balwinder Sandhu were in Nairobi over the weekend to grace the official launching ceremonyThe two who were joined by local legends of the game Maurice Odumbe Steve Tikolo and Aasif Karim said they had come to lend their support for the event which promises to be spectacular The opening ceremony for the tournament which slated for July 19 will be preceded by the bidding and tendering process for the players Other than the action in the pitch the organisers hope to inspire the growth of the game at the grassroot and schoollevel through clinics that will be conducted by the legendsThe tourney will be held at a time when the standards of cricket in the country is at an alltime low after Kenya as late as 2003 was in a special group of Associate member countries of the International Cricket Council ICC that were on the brink of acquiring the much coveted Test status to languishing in the group of minnows Following the latest development in the game former international cricketers have called for a meeting on April 14 to salvage the standards of the game that is currently on a nosedive mode in the countryThe players who plied their trade for the East African nation during the games prime between 1960 and 1990 will meet in Nairobi to discuss the crisis facing the once popular sport both at the board level and the national teams performance The game plunged into further calamity after a section of the national leadership led by the chairperson Jackie Janmohammed resigned after Kenyas poor performance at the U18 Cricket World Cup and the countrys latest dive into the International Cricket Council ICC World Cricket League Division ThreeFor the last 12 years Kenya has cumulatively received over Dollar 17 million from the ICC for the development of the game and administrative purposes Sadly the cricketloving public is yet to see even a single page of statements of accounts of how the money has been utilizedCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the goThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever