Bangladesh will renew their rl-valiy with Kenya when the two newcomers in international cricket meet in the inaugural match of a triangular tournament in Nairobi today.

The match, the first ever invitational international tour ney for Bangladesh after being awarded with one-day status along with Kenya in July this year, will get underway at the Gymkhana ground at 1 pm (BST). But the cricket-crazy nation sinks in depths of despair as both the state run electronic

media — Betar and BTV. have decided to stay oft the spectacle, which also includes the latest Test-playing nation Zimbabwe, for reasons best known to them.

The occasion, the first official one-day encounter between Bangladesh and Kenya, will mark the ninth clash of the two opponents. But Bangladesh, who led the record with five wins, will look forward to their maiden win on the Kenyan soil after three defeats including the heart-breaking one in the 1994 ICC Trophy championship.

But the Bangladesh squad, led by Akram Khan, will enjoy a moral edge as they beat the African nation in the final of the last ICC meet in Malaysia

early this year The ICC Trophy champions, who arrived in Nairobi on Monday, will have to go into the serious battle without having played a single warm-up match. Although their plan to acclimatise with new condition could not be materialised due to the non-cooperation of the hosts, who are ea gerly waiting to avenge their Kuala Lumpur defeat. The Kenyans meanwhile played a series of international matches against Zimbabwe. New Zea land and Northern Transvaal squad of South Africa as part of their preparation for the meet to be played on double-leg league The top two finishers will feature in a best-of-three finals

Bangladesh, who were having some minor injury problems to few key players, are yet to disclose their final eleven for today's tie But a leg Injury to-experienced all-rounder Mln hazul Abedin Nannu finger bruises of vice captain Aminul Islam Bulbul and wicketkeeper Khaled Masud are not that serious to rule them out of the match, claimed the Bangladesh team manager Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu over telephone last night.

Bangladesh coach Gordon Greenidge however said, his boys are very much capable of beating Kenya on their home soil.

On the other hand. Kenyan skipper Asif Karim is confident to beat Bangladesh. "We want to show them that if it were not for heavy rains in Malaysia, they would not have beaten us." sakl the left-arm veteran off-spin ner. who succeeded star batsman Maurice Odumbe after the ICC tourney.

Favourites Zimbabwe, who was due to arrive in Nairobi on Wednesday night after flight de-

lays. will be led by Aliastei Campbell and play their first match against Bangladesh on October 11.

Kenya have already named their squad on Tuesday

SQUADS

Bangladesh (from): Akram Khan (captain), Aminul Islam. Minhazuf Abedin. Athar Ali Khan. Shahriar Hossain. Ja hangir Alam. Habibul Bashar, Khaled Masud, Mohammad Rafique, Salfu) Islam. Hasibul Hossain. Sheikh Salahuddin. Mafizur Rahman and Safiuddin

Ahmed

Kenya (from): Asif Karim (captain). Steve Tikoio. Httesh Modi. Alpesh Vadher, Martin Suit, Joseph Anger a. Thomas Odoyo. Brijal Patel. Kenedy Otieno. Tony Suji. Rajab Ali. Maurice Odumbe, Dipak Chu-dasama and Mohammad Sheikh