Kirsten offers no excuses for Kenya

Andy Kirsten, the Kenya coach, has offered no excuses for his side's dreadful start to the one-day series against Zimbabwe. Kenya were soundly beaten in the opening two matches, twice conceding more than 300 runs.

"To beat Zimbabwe we have to be on top of our game," was Kirsten's simplistic response. "We have to improve on our batting and the bowlers have to be more disciplined."

The wickets in the first two ODIs in Mombasa have suited the batsmen, and Kirsten said his team were at a disadvantage by bowling first on such a flat track. But regardless of the true nature of the pitch, Zimbabwe's batsmen have made the most of it: Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Stuart Matsikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura have each scored half-centuries. Chigumbura has been particularly cavalier, cracking a brilliant 29-ball 68 in the second match to follow his equally thrilling 38-ball 79.

Kirsten is understandably keen to return to the seamer-friendly surfaces of Nairobi for the final three matches but will miss the services of Thomas Odoyo, who pulled a thigh muscle in the second ODI.

"Zimbabwe have come from two back-to-back series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and have shown a tremendous improvement to their game," he said.