Kenya captain Collins Obuya believes his side is a forced to be reckoned with when it comes to its cricket despite ups and downs in its performances. The 30-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder says the side has a good blend of players ahead of this month's ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012 which will be played across the five venues from 13-24 March.
Obuya, perhaps most well-known for his performance with Kenya in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003 when he picked up 13 wickets at 28.76, including 5-24 in the side's victory over Sri Lanka in Nairobi in the one-day format of the game, said ahead of the ICC WT20Q 2012: "There would be few people and teams who don't know about Kenya cricket and they need to know we are a force to be reckoned with, despite our ups and downs in terms of performance.
"We can beat any side on a good day and a bad day in the office is all in the spirit of the game. Teams and spectators should expect great performances as we have a good blend of players."
Obuya who has represented Kenya in 96 ODIs and 12 Twenty20 Internationals said the side had been preparing well after its recent T20I series against Ireland in Mombasa and is confident despite knowing little about some of the opposition his side will face in Group B of the event.
"We know very little about Oman and Italy as this will be our very first time against them. But we are not taking these teams lightly as it tends to be the unknowns that cause the upsets in these events and we hope to apply ourselves well when we play them.
"We watched USA play in 2010 when we met in last ICC WT20 Qualifier, they are a good side and we hope our game will be a good one. As for Ireland, Namibia, Scotland and Uganda they are all sides we have met several times and they will all provide tough matches for us."
Obuya admitted it was vital for the side to do well in this event after a disappointing performance by the African side in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
"It is very important for us to reclaim our pride and place as one of the top Associate sides and show that we are a force to be reckoned with in cricket.
"Whatever happened last year was a great lesson and that's why we moving on from the debacles by rebuilding the team. We want to make a statement with our performance and even if we don't qualify we want to have positives that we can draw from. If we qualify then it will be time for us to show the spark that is Kenya.
"We need the exposure in a competition like the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka to grow even further as a side."
