Kenya women’s cricket team suffered a huge blow ahead of the ICC women’s World Cup qualifiers after with vice-captain and batting all-rounder Sarah Bhakita was ruled out with a major injury.
The 29-year-old will be out for the next six weeks after spraining her ankle yesterday at the team’s training base at Ruaraka Sports Club ahead of next month’s Africa T20 World Cup qualifiers in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The team is expected to depart for Harare next week. Ever since making her debut in 2004, Bhakita has dominated the national team batting with a number of match winning knocks.
Among her good shows was the 186 runs against Rwanda in 2009 at Eastleigh High School. Her absence at No 3 may increase the batting load for all-rounder Margaret Banja, who has also been a mainstay in the Kenyan batting.
Bhakita missed the just concluded Victoria women’s Tri Series in Uganda due to tight work schedule at her place of work. It’s not clear who will replace the former Dr Livingstone Primary School pupil but Nakuru-based Ruth Ambiyo is likely to take up her place.
“While it’s very disappointing to be unavailable for the qualifiers, I’m looking forward to getting stuck into my rehabilitation and returning to cricket as soon as possible,” Bhakita said. “It’s an incredibly special occasion for any cricketer to be a part of qualifiers and I wish the team all the best as they set out to qualify.”
Ambiyo travelled to Uganda but was not used in all the four matches that Kenya played against the hosts and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe won the event as Kenya finished bottom, raising a lot of questions over the country’s batting levels. Apart from Banja and Quinter Aoko, all the other Kenyan batsmen failed to click with only the lower order coming into their rescue on a number of occasions.
With Bhakita now sidelined, things could be more complicated for the Lameck Onyango-coached side. Onyango regretted Bhakita’s injury, describing it as a big blow.
