After three years of push and pull with Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association, Obuya Academy are set to return to the NPCA league with a clash against leaders Stray Lions at Peponi School on Sunday.
The academy side, which is known for developing young budding cricketers, had been locked from NPCA activities since 2019 after failure to pay subscription fees.
The past one year saw the club and the association engage in spirited stand-off. The club insisted they should be let in while NPCA said not without paying the arrears, amounting to Sh173,000.
The academy sought the indulgence of the Cricket Kenya Normalisation Committee but NPCA stood their ground.
“The referenced correspondence highlights the brazen and unwarranted racial and institutional discrimination Obuya Academy, which is the sole ingenious ran cricket club in Nairobi, has for the last year faced from successive officials of NPCA,” the letter to the CKNC signed by Kennedy Obuya said.
He added: “We therefore seek your kind but urgent intervention into the matter to enable our 60 young and talented cricketers to participate in the NPCA 2021 season, noting that NPCA has failed to provide us with any reasonable justification as to why it has excluded our club from participating."
The league action started four weeks ago but Obuya were omitted from the fixtures. However, the academy started settling the arrears last week to gain readmission.
The leaders have been boosted by the availability of dangerman Alex Obanda and skipper Hiren Varaiya.
Stray Lions have a 100 percent record without the two and their arrival will be an added advantage as they seek to stretch their lead at the top after favourites Kanbis dropped points last week.
Obuya will be coming up against Gerald Mwendwa, who left them this season to join the Peponi School-based side.
They will bank heavily on Collins Obuya to give them a good start. In other matches, Kanbis and Swamibapa welcome Sir Ali and Nairobi Gymkhana at Eastleigh and Jafferys respectively. Sikh Union will be away to Ngara while Cutchi Leva host Ruaraka.