Stewart goes on the front foot

England will not announce their side until the toss. Alec Stewart, the captain, wants to play the strongest XI, which he presumably believes to be the one that beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets. He said: "I want to get on a winning run and play the best XI every time."

His co-selectors, David Graveney and David Lloyd, may persuade him that if England are to set their sights realistically on an extended run, they should include Nick Knight, Angus Fraser and either Robert Croft or Vince Wells today, both to get them involved in case of injuries and to exploit this final opportunity to discover what will be the most effective combination in tougher matches to come.

Flexibility will serve England better than the blinkered approach. Fraser should get the new ball ahead of Austin and Knight should be given another chance as Stewart's opening partner, with Hussain at No 3 to cover for an early wicket loss and to maximise the fielding potential. It is more likely that Croft for Hollioake will be the only change.

Kenya bowled West Indies out for 93 in the last World Cup. Only Australia (and Ireland, of course) have done better than that. What is less well-remembered is that the versatile combination of Africans and Asians in a team that was then far less experienced than it is now also scored 199 against India and 207 against Australia. They lost both games, but were disgraced in neither, and since then a five-year sponsorship by a brewery has enabled the majority of the players to become full-time professionals.

Nor are they so wet behind the ears tactically. The International Cricket Council having accorded them official one-day status, they have played as often as their financial resources allow and of the 25 one-day internationals to date, they have won 28 per cent. They have been coached for some time by Alvin Kallicharran and have engaged Peter Lever as a bowling coach for this tournament. An MCC touring side with 12 county professionals, which was unable to beat them in any of the important games on their home pitches during their World Cup preparations, came home convinced that Kenya would achieve their aim to be playing Test cricket within five years.

Steve Tikolo, who has yet to hit form on this visit, is well-known to be a dangerous batsman of high class. The other leading players, Maurice Odumbe, Kennedy Otieno, Asif Karim, Alpesh Vadher and Ravindu Shah may be better known by tonight after a day's exposure on BBC Television, especially on a true-looking pitch in the middle of the square where pace and bounce tend to be minimal. Kenya's XI will be the same as the one beaten by Zimbabwe by five wickets on Saturday, despite scoring 229 for seven themselves.

Tickets for the game were sold out long ago, apart from a few returns from overseas that were offered for resale yesterday. The capacity of the St Lawrence Ground has been stretched to 10,000 for the occasion. Kent officials are taking the security of the players seriously after incidents at Hove, Worcester and Bristol at the weekend. There will be 100 stewards and 28 police around the ground and six of the stewards have taken on the extra responsibility of acting as an anti-streaker squad. How they spot a potential streaker is a mystery but it recalls the occasion when the former secretary of MCC, Lieutenant-Colonel John Stephenson, called a meeting of stewards in response to a recent spate of female intruders. "If you see a streaker," he commanded, "jump on her."

The real problem in almost every case is the demon drink. Kent, for the first time, have ruled that no one will be allowed to bring alcohol into the ground and they have promised to close bars on the ground at the first sign of any trouble. This is not likely to be a match to invite it, but, just in case, they have also decided to allow no one on to the playing area in the intervals. What they and all ground authorities should be doing is to allow children only on the outfield, with a parent when it is plain that he or she is intent on nothing more than a game of cricket with a tennis ball. Banning alcohol is necessary; banning children from the outfield, even on a ground such as this, where there is room for cricket behind the seats, is surely against the spirit of the carnival.

MCC's problem in the opening match last Friday was not an excess of enthusiasm from anyone but the embarrassing, not to say appalling, sight of empty seats in the pavilion. There were more there than met the eye, because several members of the club with booked seats chose to watch instead from bars and the Long Room, but there were still 400 unsold seats and those who might well have bought them were given inadequate notice. Roger Knight, the secretary, said yesterday that MCC is considering whether to offer up to 500 extra "seats" for sale in their inside rooms for the final on June 20 and the Super Six match on June 9.

May 18, 1999