Lameck Onyango: Still batting, bowling at 50

“We wanted to put Kenya on the global map. We told each other that losing is part of sport but how we lose is what matters. Everyone gave their all in that match,” says Onyango who also played for Ruaraka Cricket Club in the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association league.

At exactly 50 years and 29 days old, he is the only player from the Kenya 1996 World Cup squad still actively playing.

Apart from coaching the national team, Onyango is a player-cum-coach of the Shree Cutchi Leva Patel Samaj (SCLPS) in the NPCA.

How did these remarkable cricket journey start?

It was for the love of free potato fritters (bhajiya) and coffee that made Lameck Onyango  frequent Kilimani Primary School in Nairobi as a young boy to play cricket.

He is now the man Cricket Kenya (CK) have entrusted with the huge responsibility of guiding Kenya to the 2024 T20 World Cup.

The Africa Division One qualifiers will take place in Namibia from November 20 to December 1 involving Kenya, the hosts, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Only one ticket is available for the World Cup that will be co-hosted by West Indies and the United States from June 4 to 30.

CK appointed the former Onyango to the head coach job  on an interim basis in August after parting ways with another ex-international, David Obuya.

Joseph Angara, who also donned the Kenyan colours was named the team’s new assistant coach also in an acting capacity.

Watching Onyango taking the national team players through their paces at Ruaraka Sports Club in Nairobi tells of a man passionate about his job.

“It has not been easy but things are moving on well,” said Onyango after an intense morning training session on Tuesday.

“I would like to see other players getting to the level that I did. As a coach, it is a great satisfaction to see some of your youngsters playing for the national team.”

Looking at his remarkable cricket career, Onyango holds in high regard those who supported him during his formative years in the sport.

Apart from playing and coaching some of the top cricket clubs in the country, the former all-rounder has handled Kenya men’s and women’s teams as an assistant coach (2018) and coach (2022) respectively.

He represented Kenya in the 1996 Cricket World Cup that was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the 2007 edition held in West Indies.

“There is no short cut in life. If you want to do something, you have to work hard since nothing will come for free. It is your own effort that will push you up there,” said Onyango a  right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler who has continued to play at his age.

While growing up in Nairobi’s Starehe Estate, his interest was football and athletics.

When they moved to Park Road Estate, Steve Tikolo, who ended up becoming one of Kenya’s greatest batsman, introduced him to cricket.

Onyango did not show much inclination to play the game but after Tikolo, now the coach of Nigeria,  convinced him to be turning up at Kilimani school and he got to get those free, tasty bhajiyas, the youngster was convinced to pursue the sport.

He was then in Class Four at Dr Aggrey Primary School.

“I would miss training on other days but not on Fridays. It was the only opportunity for us to enjoy free bhajiya and coffee.

We could also carry some home, so it was a day that we anxiously waited for,” says the former Kenya international, who comes from the famous Ngoche cricket playing  family.

Since they lacked the necessary equipment to play in the estate, they devised ways to play the game -- using reshaped maize cob a cricket ball and shaping out a bat from a wood panel, invariable removed from a fence in the neighbourhood.

“On our way back home from school we used to collect maize cobs and store them in a sack for our weekend matches. When the maize cob was hit up, everyone would seriously scramble to catch it,” he recalls, singling out former cricketers Thomas Opondo, Bernard Owino and Martin Orewa (late) as some of the people he played with.

His siblings Nehemiah, James, Shem and Margaret all followed in his footsteps.

Nehemiah, James and Shem are still actively playing. Shem is a member of the senior national team.

 In 1992 after playing for Swamibapa in the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) League for three years, Onyango earned his maiden national call up and proceeded to represent Kenya in several international tournaments culmination in two World Cup appearances in 1996 and 2007.

What keeps him going?

“What keeps me going is the discipline and hard work I put in when I was young.

“You will be shocked by how fast I can still run despite my age. My lifestyle is also very simple,” said the player/coach.

“I have not yet retired from playing but maybe this might be my last year as a player.”

His target now is guiding Kenya  back to being a top cricket nation in the world.

“I want to make the players understand that there is no one who will come from outside to take them to the next level. It is only them.”

Onyango reckons that with the right attitude Kenya can qualify for the 2024 Cricket World Cup.