Pressure on for Kenya in crucial match

Kenya take on Netherlands on Saturday in their latest ICC Intercontinental Cup match at Amstelveen, and the visitors are keenly aware how crucial the next couple of weeks are.

Kenya are currently in third place in the table, six points behind Scotland and Namibia but, crucially, they have two games in hand and a place in the final is well within their grasp.

"We know it's in our own hands," said their captain, Steve Tikolo. "If we win in Amstelveen and then beat Ireland back home in October, we will be through to the final. It would mean a lot to us because even though we have been close in the past, we have never won this competition."

Indeed, when Kenya got to the final in 2005 at the Wanderers Club in Windhoek, Namibia, it was Ireland who beat them.

"We are not looking ahead to that game yet," Tikolo said. "First of all, we must beat Netherlands. I know that Peter [Borren] and his guys will be confident after getting through to the ICC World Twenty20 at the qualifying tournament in Belfast last week but the four-day game is a different prospect.

"They definitely have some good players. Tom de Grooth has been playing well and Edgar Schiferli and Mohammad Kashif are always dangerous but Netherlands are out of the running in this competition whereas we still have everything to play for."

"We have a pretty strong side over for this and we're determined not the let this opportunity slip from our grasp."

For all the bullish talk, Kenya have not enjoyed their tour of England, Scotland and Ireland this season. They were thrashed by a club side at Cranleigh and a warm-up against a Minor Counties XI was enveloped with rumours of poor behaviour by the tourists.

Such claims were roundly dismissed to Cricinfo by Kenya's chairman, Samir Inamdar, but the side's fortunes slipped further when they failed to qualify for next year's ICC World Twenty20 in England. Dismal conditions in Glasgow then washed out their Intercontinental Cup fixture against Scotland last week.

Nevertheless, they face a Netherlands team who are missing the vital services of Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent and Alex Kervezee, though once again the weather forecast is seasonally miserable. After a disappointing tour, Kenya will be desperate to turn their trip around with a bright finish.