Cricket Kenya announces recruitment programme

Cricket Kenya has announced an extensive recruitment campaign focussing on all levels of cricket in the country in the aftermath of a wretched World Cup campaign. The news came less than 24 hours after coach Eldine Baptiste stood down.

Apart from hunting for replacement for Baptiste, CK will also look to employ more coaches at elite, regional and development levels and a full-time finance manager.

"This will be a major step forward for cricket in Kenya," Tom Sears, CK's chief executive said. "To ensure we have a structure in place that creates opportunities for Kenyans to play cricket at every level, ensure we provide meaningful competition at all levels and identify those talented players who have the potential to represent their provinces and ultimately Kenya in the future.

"In addition the recruitment of a full-time finance manager will help us ensure we can maximise the return on the investments we make in the game, implement best practices both nationally and regionally and make the funds we have go further."

The new positions that have been created include a Head of Elite Development, who will co-ordinate talent identification, elite coaching and national teams' programmes, further elite level coaches who will focus on specialist coaching at all levels and in what is a first, regional provincial managers in Nairobi, Rift Valley and Coast to work on the development of the game at the grassroots level.

"The emphasis is on a stronger coaching structure and creating clear pathways for both players and coaches to progress," Sears said. "We need more people playing the game and we need to make sure the players with the necessary talent receive the support they require to succeed."