Kenya seeks new national selection panel

Nairobi:

Cricket Kenya on Tuesday said it planned to overhaul its national selection structure in the wake of the criticism by the players over the handling of selection process by the current panel.

Chief Executive Tom Sears said a new chairman of selectors and two national selectors would be named to handle the selections of Kenya's senior and junior teams for future local and international tournaments.

"It is evident that we do not have the necessary provisions in place to ensure we have a robust selection and talent identification programme and it is an area we need to address," he said.

Sears, a former Derbyshire and New Zealand cricket CEO who took over the Kenyan job two months ago, said the new selectors will work alongside the national coach and captain in selecting the national squad and ensure that all the representative teams and all eligible players are monitored.

The national team players demanded the sacking of the selection board as part of their grievances when they went on strike in June, and, Sears said the current chairman of selectors, Nasoor Verjee, had indicated he did not wish to continue in that capacity.