Scotland's Kenyan school friendship

Dick Auchinleck, manager of the Scotland teams that visited Kenya for the World Cricket League in 2007 and for this year's visit to Kenya for the Intercontinental Cup, has been doing his bit for international relations, in liaison with Joseph Angara, who is cricket development officer working for Cricket Kenya in the Nairobi area.

"Joseph was liaison officer for the Scotland team when we visited Nairobi for the WCL tournament in 2007," explains Dick Auchinleck. "He and I have maintained contact since then, and he has just sent me the photos shown on this page.

"On each of our eight match days at Nairobi Gymkhana this year, for the four-day I-Cup game, followed by four Twenty20 matches, he brought a children from different primary schools each day to watch he cricket - and very good vocal support they were, too!

"I had 11 Tee-shirts from Cricket Scotland available to me for the trip. We had a series of Kwik Cricket sessions during the lunchtime breaks of the four-day game, with Tony [Judd] and myself supporting as available. We also had Kwik Cricket sessions at close of play of the Twenty20 matches, with many of the Scotland players supporting. And we presented a Tee-shirt to the most improved player of each class at the school, as decided by Joseph."

The photo at the top of this page shows Dick Auchinleck at one of the Tee-shirt presentations, with Joseph Angara partially hidden behind him.

"Scotland's generosity went further," recalls Auchinleck, "as 'fines' monies amounting to 4,000 Kenyan shillings (which is about £40), which were collected during the Pretoria and Nairobi legs of our trip, were also handed over to Cricket Kenya.

"Joseph organised the orange Tee-shirts and presented them to the team at Karura Forest Primary School to foster their encouragement in the sport.

"The second photo (left) shows Joseph, complete with his Cricket Scotland shirt, making a presentation to the school teacher in charge of the Karura Primary School."

The final picture, below, shows another entire school team lining up, with Joseph in background. It's probable that the Scots will be made very welcome next time they return to Nairobi!