Anshuman Gaekwad was appointed interim coach and he is taking charge of the Indian team here.For the Kenyans, little known even in their own country, the tournament represents one of their first chances to shine on the world stage.Many Kenyans know little about the game, viewing it as expensive, élitist and a sport for the country's south Asian community. But given the dire state of Kenyan football, those with an interest realize this is cricket's chance to make an impact."You find it is only played competitively in European and Asian schools but in the next few years it will pick up momentum," Odumbe said. To increase their profile, the Kenya team have released a pop-theme-song for the tournament."It is very important that we sell the game because it is unlikely we will have such a gathering again... This is the crunch, we have to use it to popularise the sport," Odumbe said.Kenya famously beat the West Indies, including Lara and the fearsome pace duo of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, by 73 runs in the 1996 World Cup. Whether they can a pull off a result like that in this tournament remains to be seen.India won tossKENYAÿK O Otieno c Ganguly b Agarkar 6 R D Shah c Dahiya b Prasad 60 J K Kamande c Dravid b Kumble 18 S O Tikolo lbw b Kumble 5 *M O Odumbe lbw b Prasad 51 T M Odoyo not out 35 M Sheikh b Khan 0 H S Modi b Khan 0 A O Suji c Dahiya b Agakar 2 M A Suji c Ganguly b Khan 14 L Onyango not out 0 Extras (lb10, w4, nb3) 17 Total (for 9, 50 overs) 208Fall: 1-16, 2-54, 3-64, 4-145, 5-158, 6-159, 7-159, 8-174, 9-206.Bowling: Khan 10-0-48-3; Agarkar 10-1-40-2; Prasad 10-0-47-2; Kumble 10-1-22-2; Tendulkar 6-0-25-0; Singh 4-1-16-0.INDIAS C Ganguly st Otieno b Odumbe 66 *S R Tendulkar lbw b T Suji 25 R S Dravid not out 68 V G Kambli not out 39 Extras (b1, lb2, w7, nb1) 11 Total (for 2, 42.3 overs) 209Fall: 47-1, 135-2.Bowling: M Suji 10-2-30-0; Odoyo 6-1-18-0; T Suji 10-0-56-1; Onyango 4.3-0-34-0; Sheikh 4-0-27-0; Tikolo 2-0-13-0, Odumbe 4-0-18-1; Shah 2-0-10-0..
Kevin Keegan sat beside him as a sort of minder, but Joe Cole was in no need of protection from the media, handling himself with a maturity beyond his years - in fact not unlike his performances on the field every week for West Ham. Besides, the precocious midfielder looks in no need of wet-nursing, cutting a much more formidable figure these days, the result of considerable work in the gym during the past few months. Kevin Keegan sat beside him as a sort of minder, but Joe Cole was in no need of protection from the media, handling himself with a maturity beyond his years - in fact not unlike his performances on the field every week for West Ham. Besides, the precocious midfielder looks in no need of wet-nursing, cutting a much more formidable figure these days, the result of considerable work in the gym during the past few months. The first of what will probably be countless press conferences over the next 15 years or so at which he is the centre of attraction went so well that the only time Keegan felt the need to intervene was when Cole - who asked David Beckham if he could have his shirt after the game at Upton Park last month - said that there were "loads of players who I'd like to get the shirts off their backs. I can't have them all".The England coach interjected: "I will have to check the shirts before he goes - we're always losing kit."I am not sure about shirts, but it is obvious that nothing would please Keegan more than to award Cole his first senior cap. And from what he said yesterday at the team's headquarters at Burnham Beeches, it looks as though it could be as substitute in the World Cup qualifier against Germany on Saturday, but more than likely a start against Finland in Helsinki next week.Keegan admitted that he had been "dying" for the 19-year-old Cole to become a regular choice at Upton Park so that he could promote him to the seniors after just one appearance for the Under-21 side - an absolutely stunning full debut against Georgia last month. Cole mentioned how disappointed he was to find himself omitted from the West Ham squad for the opening game of the season, against Chelsea.
"Whatever his disappointment was I can tell you it was twice as much for me," Keegan said. "It was a long way to go and I was trying to work out why he wasn't even... I don't think he was on the bench, was he?"Cole is very much a part of the first-team set-up now and in a matter of weeks he has found himself part of the England set-up, too. So how did he feel? "Just shocked and then happy and then worried and back to happy again," he replied. Asked if he thought Harry Redknapp, his manager, had gone overboard a bit when he said that he knew Cole would play for England when he first saw him at 11 years of age, the young man replied: "I've seen lots of players at 11 who I thought were definitely going to play for England and they didn't."Having dealt effectively with that one, he volleyed the next question into the top corner. Do you think you are ready for the full England team? "If you'd asked me when I was 13, I would have said I was good enough to play for England, but that's just kids, you know.
It's come along now, and I'm happy to be here, but I don't want to be just here for the ride It's down to me The ball is in my court. I've got to try to impress the manager and hopefully whatever happens will happen."He is aware of criticism of his game from some quarters, that he is nothing more than a circus act, but both he and Keegan insisted there was much, much more to him than that."I know Harry wouldn't have a ball juggler going out to play for him every Saturday," he said "I never go out to show off or anything It's always with scoring a goal in mind. It's never just to do it to say look, 'I can flick a ball'."He refuted that he lacked aggression. "You might not see it, but I am aggressive and I do have a will to win," he said "I hate losing. I'm a sore loser." In fact, he had noted Stuart Pearce's aggression in training and had tried to imitate it."He was the first to congratulate me when I came," he said. He looked to take "the best bits" from everyone's game, including his idol Paul Gascoigne, and from Paolo Di Canio "for his brain and the way he reads the game"."I've always said that Gazza has been my idol," Cole said "It is just unfortunate that everyone wants to compare. It happens a lot in football, you are always looking for the next person to come along...
but if I think he does something really well, then I'll try to do it in my game - I'll try and learn off all the players."Cole showed an example of his coolness when playing against Bradford on Saturday. He was chopped down by Dean Windass but did not react."Reading the papers on Monday I think a few of them wanted me to get up and start throwing my arms about," he said. "What's the point in that? If I had done that everyone would have been putting a question mark over my attitude You can't win, you know. As long as I know myself that I give 100 per cent, I'll be all right."If he does play a part on Saturday, it would not be the first time he faced Germany at Wembley. He played against them at the old stadium as a schoolboy and finished on the winning side then "That was brilliant," he said.