This year’s Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) season will start with a new tournament- 40-40 from the usual 50 overs league.
NPCA fixtures secretary Sandip Shah said this is aimed at giving the new Kenya Cricket Premier League a lot of attention as most of the players involved in the NPCA league will also be involved in the national league. “We have to give the national league a lot of attention and support that it requires that is why we have to change our calendar,” he said
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The league is set to start on 3rd of July, a day after the commencement of the new Kenya Cricket Premier League that will have four franchises.
National League given priority
“If you look at the calendar of CK, the national league will run until October and so we cant afford to let other cricket players not selected in the franchises stay ideal just because of a few. We have to make them play and so that is why we have to get going with the league,” he said.
The 40-40 is usually played from January immediately after the completion of the Twenty20 league.
“Because not everyone will be involved in the national league, we have to come up with a tournament that will be all inclusive. The 40-40 will give all the players that will not be involved in the national league a chance to continue playing cricket as they have been doing,” he said.
Shah said the Twenty20 will however be played from October as it has been the case in the past.
Player’s registration
During the association executive meeting, the cricket governing body also finalized on registration and transfer of players where they agreed that transfer of players will run for one month and no transfer will be held after the closing dates.
NPCA have also taken in consideration the national team’s calendar in their fixtures. Kenya national teams are expected to take part in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, Africa Premier League and the ICC U19 World Cup Qualifiers.
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