'My moment in the sun was soiled by loss' - Kenyan bowler Gerrard Muthui
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 03.10.24. | 21:31
The 24-year-old made his T20 debut at the Continent Cup in June last year
Kenya’s right-arm medium fast bowler Gerrard Muthui had an international List A debut to forget on Wednesday 2 October but acknowledges the fact that like wins, losses are still part of the game.
The 24-year-old from Kawangware, playing in a game he “only dreamt of as a kid”, was instead one of a dozen sad faces at the Ruaraka Sports Club, soaking in an unexpected ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League A 97-run loss to Kuwait.
It was evident his moment in the sun had been wrecked, even admitting to the fact that the only words shared in the post-game team hurdle were: “We played bad cricket.”
Muthui, who had longed for a national List A debut for quite a while, only knew he was going to play the night before the game when his coach - Lamech Onyango - came calling.
“I knew it the night before and the coach asked me to prepare and be mentally strong,” the Stray Lions Club man told Mozzart Sport.
“At that moment, all I had to do was think less, and just lock in for the game, and that was the mindset heading into the game.”
Having served his time as a reserve in the team’s two previous games in the tournament, Muthui put on quite a decent show on the ball, taking out opener Meet Bhavsar in his third ball of the contest, before forcing Ali Zaheer to a shot that was gathered by fielder Dhiren Gondaria.
“Sticking to the basics was really key for me and I am glad that I picked two wickets in that session,” he said, adding that as a team, giving up “so many boundaries” was what held them back.
And after the Kenyan top-order batsmen struggled to keep the run-chase in check, Muthui, not known for his striking, came on late to the crease, where he teamed up with his senior Lucas Oluoch.
“My job there was just to give Lucas a strike,” Muthui said of his 9-ball 10 performance on the crease. “I am not a batter that stays in the wicket, and so I took my time and hit the ball so as to rotate the strike.”
Asked how he would sum up his special career moment, Muthui said: “Probably one I will look at later with immense pride. The result doesn’t spoil the entire moment but it feels bad to have performed this way. As a player, just as you take wins as a team, you take the losses the same way.”
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