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The Kenyans had worse news to absorb yesterday than the heavy defeat by England in the murk of Canterbury. The World Cup organisers confirmed that Jimmy Kamande, their 20-year-old medium-pace bowler, had been reported for throwing in the game against Zimbabwe at Taunton last Saturday.

A spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board said the report by the match umpires, Doug Cowie of New Zealand and Javed Akhtar of Pakistan, had been referred to the International Cricket Council, the governing body of world cricket, who are based at Lord's. No representative of either body was prepared to make a comment on the report nor the referral.

It is believed that Kamande, who did not play against England, was cautioned after bowling a short ball at Paul Strang, and the matter was later brought to the attention of John Reid, the ICC referee at the match.

Kamande's figures, in a game Zimbabwe won by five wickets, were nought for 38 from nine overs. Strang, batting at No 3, made 29 from 21 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes.

The last thing the organisers wanted was the issue of 'chucking' to re-enter the public debate just as the World Cup is beginning to catch fire.

Perhaps it is just as well that the bowler reported plays for Kenya, who have lost both their matches and will not qualify for the second stage of the competition.

Had one of the more prominent cricketing countries been implicated, the ructions would be considerably greater.

Since Muttiah Muralitharan, the freakish Sri Lankan finger spinner, was no-balled by Ross Emerson for throwing in a one-day international against England in Adelaide in January, the debate has been fierce.

On that occasion Arjuna Ranatunga, the captain of Sri Lanka, threatened to lead his men from the field after the game had been held up.

In order to avert any repetition of those scenes, the organisers decided to keep Darrell Hair, the senior Australian umpire, away from the Sri Lankans in the World Cup.

Hair was the first umpire to call Murali for throwing, in the Melbourne Test four winters ago, and he has questioned the validity of his action in his recent autobiography, Decision Maker, describing it as 'diabolical'.

If the ICC consider Kamande has a case to answer, they can convene a panel of expert judges to make observations, supported by video footage. Any recommendations they make would go directly to the cricket authorities in Kenya, who are an associate member of ICC. As a matter of policy, the ICC make no comment on specific cases at any stage of the procedure.

It has been a trying couple of weeks for the Kenyans, who beat West Indies so memorably in the last World Cup.

They were forced to play through the drizzle at Canterbury, a situation that no Test team would have accepted, and found there wasn't enough food to go round during the tea break because the Kent club had miscalculated provisions for players and officials.