Curtain falls on Kenyan Collins Obuya's career after 16 years of T20I cricket

Well, the Men’s African Games cricket competition is over and Zimbabwe clinched the title beating Namibia by eight wickets in the final in Accra’s Achimota Senior Secondary School field.

The tournament saw three Associate nations making the semi-finals – Uganda, who finished third, and Kenya being the other two besides Namibia to make the last four stage.

Uganda beat Kenya by 106 runs in the third place play-off.

South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania were the other four teams taking part in the tournament.  

The tournament also saw curtains falling on one of the longest careers in T20 International cricket, that of Kenyan leg-spinner Collins Obuya.

The 42-year-old, whose brothers David Obuya and Kennedy Otieno also represented Kenya, was one of the stars of the 2003 World Cup, picking 13 wickets at 28.76 including a spell of 5/24 that helped his side beat Sri Lanka. He played T20 International cricket for 16 years and 204 days.

He featured in 76 T20Is and wound up his career with 126 in four matches of the African Games including a 52 off 29 in the semi-final against Zimbabwe and 68 off 30 balls in a league game against Ghana.

His last outing, however, was a downer as he was dismissed for a duck against Uganda.

The player had graduated to becoming an opening batsman after starting his career as a fine leg-spin bowler.

He is one of the few players alongside Sean Williams of Zimbabwe, Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, Mahmudullah of Bangladesh, Rohit Sharma of India and Tim Southee of New Zealand to have played over 16 years of T20 International cricket.

“I have decided to retire from the game after 23 years. It’s been a big honour playing for Kenya,” Obuya said after the game according to a statement by International Cricket Council (ICC).

"I want to thank everyone, my teammates and my family who have been there for me in good times and hard times. It has been a lovely career for me, to have been able to play that long. I am very proud of my career, but it's time to concentrate on my coaching back home and do what good I can for cricket."

Cricket, Kenya, Collins Obuya, Zimbabwe, Africa