Ladies captain Emily Ruto was left stunned and pleasantly surprised on Saturday by the turn out and interest among girls during the opening day of the National Secondary School League.
On the first day of the league—despite the showers in the city —saw young girls from various schools turn up in numbers to play the first ladies tournament this season.
Cricket Kenya is due to hold other tournaments before the end of the year to help in uplifting the level of the game among the ladies.
Captain and Colleagues Amused:
"The response to the league has been fantastic; I and my colleagues who turned out to watch the matches never expected such a massive turnout. It left us dumbfounded and we kept wondering what will happen to our cricket if all these girls will take up cricket,” Ruto said.
Ruto who took up cricket while in Secondary School saw her former school- Kenya High School loss by 42 runs to defending champions City Park Girls Centre at Ruaraka.
There were also primary school pupils who turned up at both venues to watch the schools in action.
Hoping for the Best:
"I don’t know where our cricket would have been had we had more of this leagues five years ago. Despite the matches being low scoring I believe we have talents that need to be nurtured. If that will be done then we will be calling the shots in women cricket in the coming years,” she said.
Despite her former school going down in the opening match, Ruto is still optimistic they have what it takes to reclaim their title.
“They could probably have done better than they did, obviously. But then they weren't as good as they should have been and they didn’t play as they were meant too. There is still hope and I am sure they will rise.
Kenya High are due to play Ruaraka High on Saturday, 28th May, 2011 at Ruaraka Sports Club from 2pm.
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