JOHANNESBURG, March 15: Kenya announced on Saturday they would press for Test status from 2005 after their team reached the semifinals of the World Cup.

Sharad Ghai, a senior Kenya Cricket Association (KCA) official, told reporters: “We will be asking that we be admitted to Test status from 2005. We do not want to rush, and we will use the time to put together the required infrastructure.”

Ghai said KCA officials would make their case at an International Cricket Council (ICC) executive board meeting in Johannesburg coinciding with the end of the World Cup.

Ghai said the sport in Kenya was crying out for funding but that would not be possible without Test status. Kenya’s team did not even have an official sponsor at the World Cup.

Bangladesh were the last team to be awarded Test status three years ago. They have not won a single Test match and not won a one-dayer since 1999.

Kenya beat Bangladesh in the first round of the World Cup, as well as beating Test sides Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to become the first non-Test nation to reach the last four of the tournament.

Test status, however, is not just based on results but on good venues and competitive domestic competitions.

Ghai, reflecting on Bangladesh’s problems at the top level, said Kenya were prepared to be patient.

He added that the Kenyan board had decided that the team’s World Cup winnings, currently standing at around $500,000, would be shared exclusively among the 15-man squad — $33,333 per player, a fortune in the East African country.

The Kenya Cricket Association, he said, would not make any money from the tournament.

“We will be left out of pocket,” Ghai said, adding Kenya would press the ICC for compensation because of New Zealand’s decision to forfeit their first-round World Cup match in Nairobi. The New Zealanders cited security concerns following a suicide bombing in Mombasa in November which killed 16 people.

The New Zealand forfeit gave Kenya four free points which helped them to qualify for the second round.

Ghai, however, said: “They gave our country a bad name and the effects will linger for some time.”

Meanwhile, financial offers to members of the Kenya cricket team have started pouring in with local firms keen to cash in on their success in the World Cup.

The Sameer Group of companies, which has vast interests in battery manufacturing, tyre making and mobile telephony on Saturday pledged 100,000 shillings (US$1,300) to each player if they beat India in the semifinals on Thursday.

Five companies have already raised 2.4 million shillings ($31,500), which will be delivered to the team by the country’s Vice President Michael Wamalwa in South Africa next week.

Wamalwa, a former cricket player, will lead a group of fans to cheer the team in the semifinal.

The Kenyan team had no major corporate sponsors before the World Cup.—Reuters/AFP