Kenya's captain Steve Tikolo (right) plays a shot as England's wicketkeeper Paul Nixon watches during their World Cup cricket match in Gros Islet, on March 24. - REUTERS

GROS ISLET, St. Lucia (CMC):

Captain of Kenya's Cricket World Cup (CWC) squad, Steve Tikolo, is pleading for more competition at the highest level of the game for associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Tikolo made the comments Saturday after his side's seven-wicket loss to England that cost them a place in the Super Eight series (second round) of the World Cup.

"You need more (high level) games. You can't come here without playing at this level consistently. If you look at our calendar now, what we are expecting is a Twenty20 World Cup in September. Between then and now there's nothing for us," said Tikolo.

The Kenyan captain stressed: "If you want the associate members to come up, you have to give them more games, it's as simple as that."

Kenya ended the group in third position with two points from their three matches.

Struggled

In their match against England Saturday, they struggled to string partnerships together, scoring 177 all out in 43 overs.

"The guys played well, given that we had a relatively young team. Today's game, I thought we did not get the partnerships going and that was key, 177 on this wicket is not enough."

Kenya's decision to bat against England was the first time in six matches that a side winning the toss had decided to bat first.

"The wicket looked fairly good for batting. The decision to bat was valid. We did not get partnerships going and we lost wickets at regular intervals. That was our downfall," Tikolo said.

As for his own future with the Kenyan team, Tikolo, who turns 36 years old in June, expressed the desire to continue assisting with the development of the team.

"I want to play for Kenya for the next few years to see this team develop into a fine unit," he stressed.