U-19 World Cup did not cost Kenya millions

In the aftermath of the ICC’s controversial decision to strip Kenya of the rights to host the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, one of Kenya’s main newspapers has wasted no time to stick the knife into a board it has been willing to attack at every opportunity.

In the Standard on Monday, it was claimed that the ICC’s decision had cost Kenya “between US$7 and US$8 million”. Even a basic knowledge of the event would have shown that no board makes cash from hosting such a tournament. The TV rights are already onsold by the ICC, and while the direct costs of hosting (accommodation/transport etc) are picked up by the ICC, any surplus is also kept by them. The country staging the event only gets a hosting fee of around US$250,000.

A day later and a report claimed Cricket Kenya “went to sleep” after securing hosting rights to this tournament in 2006 and that was incapable of working to a “set timetable”. Again, had it bothered to ask the executive, it would have established how much was actually done.

At best this is sloppy reporting. But given what has happened before, there is a suspicion that it was the latest salvo in a long-running campaign to discredit the board.