Pakistan to forget controversies

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Pakistan will be hoping to put aside their off field controversies and begin their 2011 World Cup campaign on a winning note when they take on Kenya in a group ‘A’ fixture under lights at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambanthota today.

Pakistan have experienced tough moments both on and off the field during the last few months and will be determined to get their act together well from the very first game of the tournament.

This match will also serve as a good preparation for the 1992 champions as they will be up against the co hosts Sri Lanka in an important game on Saturday at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Pakistan of course look set to pull off this game on present form but they would like to forget their 2007 experience in the Caribbean when they were eliminated from the preliminary round following a shock three wicket defeat at the hands of outsiders Ireland in Kingston.

In fact there are four players who have survived from that team namely Younus Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal. In addition Shahid Afridi was a member of that squad but was left out due to a ban.

Kenya of course qualified for the 2011 World Cup after finishing fourth at the ICC World Cup qualifying tournament in 2009. They can be really proud of their achievements as an Associate Member having created some of the biggest upsets in World cricket.

Their biggest moment was when they reached the semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 while overcoming the former champions Sri Lanka by 53 runs. They eventually lost the semifinal to India by 91 runs.

Kenya also created arguably the greatest shock in ICC World Cup history when they defeated the West Indies by 73 runs in 1996.

They also has the best win percentage ratio of all associates and has a better record that the two Full Members Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Pakistan and Kenya have met five times in One Day Internationals with Pakistan winning on all five occasions. They have never met in the ICC Cricket World Cup, but their most recent meeting was at Birmingham during ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 when Pakistan won by seven wickets.

Pakistan won its recent series in New Zealand 3-2 - its first success after nine series losses in a row.

They beat Bangladesh by 89 runs and lost to England by 67 runs in the warm-up matches.

Kenya has only won two of its last 11 One Day International matches, but those were in its recent 2-1 home series victory over Afghanistan in October.

The teams:

Kenya (from): Jimmy Kamande (captain), Tanmay Mishra, James Ngoche, Shem Ngoche, Alex Obanda, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Nethemia Odhiambo, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Elijah Otieno, Morris Ouma, Rakeep Patel, Steve Tikolo, Seren Waters.

Pakistan (from): Shahid Afridi (captain), Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shahzad, Asad Shafiq, Kamran Akmal, Misbah ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Younus Khan.