Cricket is a popular sport in Kenya. Kenya has competed in the Cricket World Cup since 1996. They upset some of the World's best teams and reached semi-finals of the 2003 tournament. They also won the inaugural World Cricket League Division 1 hosted in Nairobi and participated in the World T20. Their most successful player is Steve Tikolo.Who helped them reach the semi finals of the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricket has always been played only at club level in cities like Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and central province. But there never was a competition where these cities played each other until the Zonal League was started.
History
The History of Kenya Cricket http://cricketkenya.co.ke/history.php
Historical background
Following initial colonisation by the Portuguese, Kenya gradually came under British influence in the latter part of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. Cricket was probably introduced to the country in the 1880s.
Early developments
The first match of note was "East African Protectorate v Rest of the World" at Mombasa in December 1899. From 1910, a series of games called Officials v Settlers was established and ran until 1964. In 1914, a Kenyan team crossed the border into Uganda and defeated their hosts by 5 wickets at Entebbe.
The National cricket competition in Kenya is also known as Zonal League. It is a four team cricket competition created by Cricket Kenya featuring a Twenty20 tournament, a one day cricket tournament and finally a three-day cricket tournament. For the inaugural league four teams will be competing consisting of the 60 best players according to Cricket Kenya from Kenya. The first edition of the competition involved four franchises, namely The Northern Nomads, The Eastern Aces, The Southern Stars, and The Western Chiefs. The teams were captained by National team players, Steve Tikolo, Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Obuya, and Peter Ongondo in 2008. The inaugural T20 Competition, played in February 2008, was won by the Eastern Aces, while the first 50 over competition was won by the Northern Nomads, However the three day format of the competition was postponed due to unfavourable weather and was played in June 2008. Further difficulties in availability of players, many of whom were in school, meant that the first season of the three-dayers had to be compressed to two days per match. The league was sponsored by South African Sahara Computers, African Cricket Association and others in 2008. Following a lack of interest from contracted players and insufficient funding, the league was not held in 2009 and 2010, and has been replaced in 2011 by two new competitions; the East African Cup and the East Africa Premier League
In 2011, as part of a radical shakeup of cricket in the country following poor performances by the national team at the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and in response to a huge gap in standards between the national side and the country's existing leagues, Cricket Kenya launched two new franchise based competitions. Season 2011/12 saw the launch of the 50 over a side East African Cup, and the Twenty20 East Africa Premier League. In addition to teams from Kenya, two teams from neighbouring Uganda were also awarded franchises, to ensure further development of playing standards, and to create more rivalry with Kenyan-based sides. Four teams from Kenya will participate
Teams are composed of international players, senior club players and age group cricketers aiming to make the national squads of both countries. The top two teams in each competition compete in live televised finals. Cricket Kenya has agreed a broadcast deal with Supersport who will televise a number of live matches throughout Africa as well as a regular highlights and magazine programme.
