NAIROBI: Kenya will make most of its preparations for next month's cricket World Cup qualifying tournament in South Africa between March 14 to April 1, Cricket Kenya chief Tom Tikolo said on Thursday.

The World Cricket League division one champions will attend a two-week training camp at the ICC High Performance centre in Pretoria and play three warm-up matches against local league sides ahead of the qualifiers which start on April 1.

"Cricket Kenya is impressed with the progress the team has been making in preparation for this very important tournament, and believes that there will be value added to the team during the camp in Pretoria," said Tikolo.

Kenya has been forced to go through the qualifiers after the ICC scrapped the One-Day International status which guaranteed the country automatic qualification to the World Cup since 1996.

Kenya will play Netherlands in Potchefstroom on April 1 in the opening match of Pool B which also includes newcomers Afghanistan, Bermuda, Denmark and UAE.

Defending champions Scotland are drawn in Group A alongside Canada, Ireland, Namibia, Oman and Uganda.

The Kenya squad for the qualifiers is:

Steve Tikolo (captain), Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Morris Ouma, Alex Obanda, Collins Obuya, Hiren Varaiya, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Lameck Onyango, Elijah Asoyo, Jimmy Kamande, Rajesh Bhudia, Rakep Patel, Seren Waters.