The sorrow of Kenyan Cricket, once a World Cup Semi-finalist

In the 2003 Cricket World cup, co-hosts Kenya accomplished something no other associate had ever achieved in the past.

Their tournament started with a defeat to South Africa, but Kenya was on a roll after they beat Kenya by four wickets.

After defeating Canada, Steve Tikolo and his men with their batting resistance and guerilla bowling attack produced victories over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Kenya stunned everyone when they beat a strong Sri Lankan side by 53 runs defending a low total of 210. After getting a walkover against New Zealand in the Group Stages, the Kenya team qualified for the super sixes, which was an achievement in itself.

In the super sixes, they found themselves to be a bit lucky, but still, they thrashed fellow co-hosts Zimbabwe.

Chasing a modest target of just 134, they beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets with 24 Overs to spare and reached the semis despite a loss against the Indians.

They faced India again in the semifinals but couldn’t overcome them. They lost the game by 91 runs, but not before they showed impressive resistance. Despite the semifinal exit, Kenya showed real character, fight and determination throughout the tournament.

Unfortunately, Kenya couldn't repeat their magical performances in the next two World cups (2007 and 2011). They managed to win only one match and lost eight matches including some heavy defeats against Newzealand, Pakistan, Srilanka and Zimbabwe at 2011 World cup which turned out to be their final appearance at a Cricket World cup.

They dipped heavily in cricket due to political and economic causes. Eventually, they lost ODI status in 2014 after finishing last in the super six round of ICC World Cup Qualifier 2014.

To add insult to injury, Kenya was relegated to ICC World Cricket League Division Two finishing fifth in ICC World cricket league championship.

Things got much worse when they lost their all six matches in ICC World Cricket League Division Two including fifth place play-off against Oman and relegated to Division Three.

Kenya relegated to WCL Div 3 after a poor performance at ICC WCL Div 2

After a disappointing campaign, Kenya's captain Rakep Patel decided to quit from captaincy duties.

Along with him, Coach Thomas Odoyo and board president Jackie Janmohammed resigned from their respective posts.

Odoyo, who was part of the Kenyan team when Kenya played the famous 2003 World Cup Semifinal, was utterly gutted with the team’s performance in the tournament.

A few months later, Shem Ngoche was appointed as the captain and Maurice Odumbe as the head coach ahead of ICC World T20 Africa “B” qualifiers.

Kenya did well under the new captain in the tournament as they finished first in Africa Eastern subregion ahead of Uganda and qualified for the Africa regional final.

Their next assignment is to be promoted from the WCL Division Three, which is set to commence from November 9.

Clearly, Kenya has failed to live up to their potential and expectations after their mind-boggling performance in the 2003 Cricket World cup.

Nowadays, most people are forced to believe that they just got lucky in the tournament. But people who actually followed the Kenya team know that they played like true champions. Their sizzling performance then serves as a sweet memory in the fading cricketing history of Kenya.