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It's Obuya for the record

February 25, 2003 11:06 IST
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Kenya leg spinner Collins Obuya made a name for himself on Monday

How long he will stick to that name remains to be seen. But on February 24, 2003, in Nairobi, he was unquestionably Collins Obuya and, without doubt, took five for 24 against Sri Lanka to engineer one of the cricket World Cup's greatest shocks.

The 21-year-old Obuya, whose bowling analysis was the ninth best in World Cup history, is one of three brothers in Kenya's World Cup squad.

In their time, all three have played under different names.

The eldest, Kennedy Otieno (Obuya), top-scored with 60 in Kenya's innings of 210 for nine. He later took two catches off his brother's bowling.

Kennedy, who was first capped in the 1996 World Cup, has always preferred to be known by his second name rather than his family name, as is often the case among Kenyans although there are no hard and fast rules.

David Oluoch Obuya, the third brother -- and like Kennedy a wicketkeeper-batsman -- did not play in Monday's game.

When he followed Kennedy into the national side, he decided to be known by his father's name, Obuya.

Collins Obuya, meanwhile, was at one stage known as Collins Omondi, the latter his second name.

The Kenya Cricket Association, bombarded with questions from scorers and statisticians and journalists about who exactly was who, later intervened by suggesting all should be called Obuya.

Two out of three cannot be bad.

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Source: REUTERS
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