President's Cup, 1997-98

This tournament, the second senior one-day international competition to be staged in Nairobi, staggered from disaster to fiasco as arrangement after arrangement went awry. The ideas was simple: a contest involving one or more of the world's top limited-overs teams to mark the new standing of the hosts, Kenya, who, along with Bangladesh, had been given a special status allowing them to play full one-day internationals and first-class cricket but not Tests.

The Kenya Cricket Association, the organisers, hoped to secure either India (guaranteeing lucrative TV rights) or the World Cup holders Sri Lanka, or both. In the end, the poor relations of world cricket - Kenya, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - contested a private affair among themselves; spectators and television cameras both stayed away. For one fixture between the two visiting teams there were just 32 paying customers. The games, shifted from their original dates in the hope of attracting the Indians, caught the start of Kenya's rainy season. Then the third match of the finals was moved again to maximise attendance on a public holiday - only for Zimbabwe's emphatic victories in the first two to rule out the need for a decider.

Nor was the cricket especially exciting. Kenya set two world partnership records, for the first and seventh wickets in one-day internationals, but Zimbabwe - led by the Flower brothers - were overall much too professional for their opponents and won the trophy with considerable ease, underlining the gulf that both Kenya and Bangladesh must bridge before ICC awards them full Test status. Kenya seemed closer to their goal than the Bangladeshis, who barely put up a fight in any of their four matches. Their coach, Gordon Greenidge, said they performed like a bunch of schoolboys.

Match reports for

1st Match: Kenya v Bangladesh at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 10, 1997
Report | Scorecard

2nd Match: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 11, 1997
Report | Scorecard

3rd Match: Kenya v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 12, 1997
Report | Scorecard

4th Match: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Aga), Oct 14, 1997
Report | Scorecard

5th Match: Kenya v Bangladesh at Nairobi (Aga), Oct 15, 1997
Report | Scorecard

6th Match: Kenya v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Aga), Oct 16, 1997
Report | Scorecard

1st Final: Kenya v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 18, 1997
Report | Scorecard

2nd Final: Kenya v Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Gym), Oct 19, 1997
Report | Scorecard