Players at odds with broke Kenyan board

The dispute between the Kenya Cricket Association and its national side continues to rumble on, with the KCA accusing those claiming that there is any conflict of "not having cricket at heart".

At the centre of the disagreement is prizemoney owing from the 2003 World Cup, but the unease between board and players goes back much further than that. Reports of threatened strike action by the Kenyan players have surfaced on a number of occasions, but that is more an indication of the levels of mismanagement inside Kenyan cricket than any militancy by the cricketers.

The latest trouble surfaced on the eve of Kenya's Intercontinental Cup tie against Uganda in Nairobi last week. The players stayed away from a pre-match training session, and Steve Tikolo, the captain, met with Sharad Ghai, the new chairman of the KCA, to discuss the issue.

The KCA subsequently claimed that all the money had been paid, with the exception of a small amount held back at the request of the South African Revenue Service to offset against potential income-tax demands.

But this is the tip of the iceberg. The KCA is, by its own admission, broke. Within the last week certain creditors have had to be paid personally by Ghai, and sources say that the KCA owes more than 20 million shillings (£140,000) with no discernible source of income aside from ICC handouts. The players' salaries have been slashed, in some instances by up to 90%, and it is not hard to see why they are angry. They are also unhappy with the way that the game is being administered.

Such is the public mistrust of the way the KCA operates that their one major sponsor, Kenyan Breweries, walked away last year, and the KCA has been unable to replace them. The players have until now been paid from ICC monies meant for development inside the country, but the board has now started issuing warnings that if a sponsor isn't forthcoming, then there will be no central contracts.

The threats made by the KCA in recent days are no doubt based on fact - it is unlikely that Ghai will bankroll the KCA for long - but they are also aimed at trying to bring the players into line through fear. What is certain is that the relationship between the players and the existing board can only get worse. And that is hardly likely to help their on-field performances.