The second round of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) gets underway this morning with five Super League matches on the card.
Obuya Cricket Academy (OCA) will host Swamibapa A at their Lenana School turf, while Sikh Union A “The Simbas” will take on Champions Kanbis A at their Wangari Mathai Road backyard.
Ruaraka A will host leaders Stray Lions A with Sir Ali Muslim Club A taking on Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj (SCLPS “A”) at Sir Ali grounds in Park Road.
Ngara Sports Club A will host Nairobi Gymkhana A in another Super Division match.
It’s been a great start to the season with several matches serving up great moments ahead for cricket enthusiasts.
And if the first leg standing is anything to go by, then any of the top five teams have a realistic chance to take home the coveted title currently held by Kanbis.
Stray Lions, whose unbeaten run was broken by Sir Ali, currently tops the NPCA log with 32 points from 9 matches.
Kanbis has 24 points from 9 matches, having won 6 and lost 3 to Stray Lions, Ruaraka and the Swamis.
The Division One League has 5 matches with Ruaraka B getting a bye for the weekend.
Stray Cheetah plays Kongonis A at Cutchi Leva while Stray Lions B hosts NgaraB at Peponi.
Nairobi Jaffrey will be at home against Cutchi Leva. GI Unicorns A plays Kanbis B at Goan Institute grounds in Pangani. In another Division One match Stray Leopards A will lock horns with Swamibapa B at Eastleigh High School.
The Division Two category which is the junior development competition of NPCA has two matches this weekend.
Kongonis B will play GI Unicorns B at Nairobi Club while Swamibapa Development takes on Ruaraka C at Jamhuri High School grounds.
NPCA Chairman Kanti Rabadia said the second round of the 50 Overs League will run for the next 10 weeks to hopefully conclude before the Christmas break.
This will determine the winner of the 50 Overs League that will be followed by the NPCA T-20 and indeed the 75 Overs competition sometime in early 2022.
Rabadia also announced that the men’s senior events next year will run alongside Junior programs (Div. 2) as well as the women’s competitions.
“The essence is to build capacity for women over the next two years. The junior development competition known as Division Two is ongoing and is being envisaged as a feeder to the senior category in the future,” said Rabadia, adding: “We understand the predicament of parents whose children are keen on taking up Cricket seriously from school and moving up to Club level, but we have serious financial and organizational challenges that we are trying to gap. It’s been just over 2 months since we resumed Cricket in Nairobi County, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm amongst the Cricket fans. We are getting multiple queries on a daily basis, but our resources are limited both financially and manpower, but we hope to source corporate sponsorship, to enable us raise the standards of the game to the next level”
“We are also exploring possibilities of running a franchise competition in partnership with other corporate entities. This will give our youngsters an opportunity to emulate other professional cricketers from the Sub-continent and beyond”