KENYA could be in for a shock to the system when they step up their World Cup preparations at East Lancashire's Alexandra Meadows ground tomorrow.

The Kenyans flew in to Manchester yesterday and will be faced with damp conditions when they take on a Lancashire League side in their second warm-up game (start 11am).

East Lancashire professional Claude Henderson gave an insight into the problems the Africans will come up against in the 50-overs clash.

"In the first few games the wicket has been very soft and not very easy to bat on. You have had to be patient and wait for the bad ball to take advantage," he said.

However, the South African spinner is optimistic that the weather will be kind and believes the game will be of benefit to the World Cup hopefuls, who stunned the West Indies in a group game in the 1996 competition.

"I think the forecast is good and hopefully the wicket will be a bit harder and there will be a few more runs on the board.

"It will be good for them to get outside and get used to the weather and hopefully it will be good practice for them," Henderson added. The Lancashire League side, which includes Henderson, Roger Harper, Brad McNamara, Joe Scuderi and Brad White, can expect to be in the field first if they lose the toss tomorrow.

Kenyan coach and former West Indies captain Alvin Kallicharan expects calling the coin the right way will play a big factor in the result of many of the games in the World Cup when it gets underway next month.

And with the changeable weather in mind Kallicharan plans to ask Kenyan skipper Asif Karim to bat first if he wins the toss.

"The weather conditions will play a major part in winning games and winning the toss is very important," he said. "When I played here if you won the toss you batted first. I think that with runs on the board you can control the game a little bit.

"Then again I may have been a little bit spoilt by the fact I was batting for a great West Indies team." In a warm-up game like tomorrow's it's likely that the Kenyans would bat first regardless to guarantee themselves maximum practice.

But Kallicharan feels the vagaries of the British weather will hand England an advantage over their World Cup rivals.

He said: "England will obviously adapt quicker than everyone else having had the experience of playing cricket here."

The Kenyans, who also have ex-Lancashire and England paceman Peter Lever on their coaching staff, were playing against Lancashire seconds at Old Trafford today and after tomorrow's game face the Central Lancashire League and the Bolton Association before they move to down to their base at Taunton next Monday.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.