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It wasn’t easy for Kenya to swallow their pride after falling to Zambia in a tension-packed match of the U18 International Championships at Manyatta Polo Club on August 2.
This was because Kenya started it as the strongest side but ended up as the weakest after being thrashed 8.5-5 in a match, they could have easily won had they put their house in order.
Their backline was a big letdown to the surprise of the marauding Zambians.
Surprisingly, as the Central Africans started it as the weakest side from their low handicap, they ended up victorious owing to their prowess, hard work, and accuracy on goal.
The Kenyan side had numerous lapses throughout the first three chukkas, and their comeback in the final chukka was too late to change the tide in their favour.
As a result, the Zambians started the match at the advantage of half a fraction of a goal to put them at par with the home team.
Similarly, both teams had two fast riders who were equally the marauding captains of the two sides.
They were Ryan Jellis of Zambia and Kenya’s Lochie Murray.
Also, the two captains emerged as top scorers of their respective sides.
As Jellis scored seven goals for his side, Lochie struck five for Kenya.
A day before the epic match, Jellis had warned they came for serious business and nothing would stop them from conquering the Kenyans.
However, the Zambians kept how to do it very close to their chests.
“We came here to win, and that’s why we took our time in picking the right ponies for the match. We were here for serious business,” he told Nairobian Sports.
The 10-year-old-Catrina, which is owned by Casimir Gross and was rode by Jellis emerged as the Best Playing Pony (BPP).
“This was a good pony, and it had the right reflexes, and her turns were superb. Again, it was a faster horse on a straight chase,” said the Zambian captain.
The seriousness of the Central Africans was seen earlier during the test matches that ran for two days.
Most of the top scorers for their respective composite sides were the Zambians who equally emerged as top scorers while the Kenyan riders were too good in the provision of assists.
The Kenyan team comprised of handicap 0.5 Captain Murray (Lochie), Vester Murray (-0.5), Archie Camm (-0.5) and Sacha Camm (-0.5) who had a total team handicap -1.0.
And the Zambians led by handicap 1 Jellis included Jordy Brynus (-1.0), Katie Patterson (-1.0) and Zac Dunn (- 1.0) for the total team handicap -2.0.
Before the match, Jellis had advised his teammates on the need of team play if they were to overcome their opponents.
“After we agreed on this, we had to put pressure on Kenyans as we pressed for early goals so that we could get the match at the doorstep later on as we progressed with vigour to come out victorious,” said the Zambian captain.
The loss came only a week after Kenya had beaten Zimbabwe in a Six-Goal-International match at the same venue, a development that had inspired the junior team to follow into the footsteps of the senior team.
However, that never came to pass.
Kenya Captain Lochie Murray blamed the loss on their ineffectiveness, saying they were too slow in the pitch, which allowed their opponents to take over its control.
“We were too slow on them, and they (Zambians) took advantage of this to exploit our weaknesses to hammer us at our own game in our backyard,” he said.
Lochie said inadequate training as a unit for long hours and days also cost them the match as opposed to their opponents who had trained together for over six weeks.
Asked if they could have lent Pony Catrina had they learnt of her ability to destroy them, the Kenyan captain said, “Absolutely no!”
“Had we known of Pony Catrina’s ability to emerge as the BPP, definitely, we wouldn’t have released it to our opponents’ den,” he lamented.
It means the visitors were better at learning the abilities of the Kenyan horses than their true owners.
Or alternatively, the Kenyans could not make good use of some of their best horses at home.
“However, we’ll improve on these mis-achievements so that they are never repeated again in the future,” said Lochie.
One of the umpires who officiated in the match was the experienced Goddy Millar.
Lessons learnt by Kenyans
-Getting the right energetic horses in home or away matches is crucial.
-The need to train as a unit for long.
-Slowlessness in learning abilities of best horses cost Kenyan victory.
-The need to study and know abilities of horses early enough.