Afghan Cricket team battles to become World class
Telegraph

12/28/2008
By Ben Farmer in Kabul

Afghanistan has only one proper cricket ground and its national squad earns only £12 a month, but next month the war-ravaged country will move a step closer to qualifying for the Cricket World Cup.

Two decades after cricket took hold among Afghan refugees sheltering in Pakistan from the Soviet occupation, the national side could be four months from joining the sport's top flight.

The team is flying to Argentina, where first or second place in the International Cricket Council league, division three, brings qualification for the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa in April.

The Argentinean tournament follows a successful year, in which the Afghan side has rapidly scaled the lower leagues, winning both division five and four. Many of its players must pay for their own kit and routinely practice using tennis balls wrapped in scotch tape.

As a gesture of appreciation for the efforts against overwhelming odds, the team's players were flown to the Hajj pilgrimage as guests of President Hamid Karzai and are now in a training camp in Pakistan.

"I think, God willing, we stand a good chance," said Allah Dad Noore, the president of the country's cricket federation and the father of Afghan cricket.

To get this far, he has had to battle Taliban suspicion, government interference and a chronic lack of funds.

Years of fighting between the country's warlords hampered efforts to have the sport officially registered and the Taliban regime was deeply suspicious of the new sport.

"They would not agree to accept this game because they told me there was no cricket in Afghanistan," said Mr Noore.

"I said no, there will be in the near future because five million Afghans in Pakistan will soon come here and we will have to register."

It was not until a senior Taliban official visited a provincial tournament and saw the level of support that cricket was accepted by the regime.

Cricket matches now command large crowds and the city of Jalalabad alone has 66 registered clubs.

However even with a mobile phone company sponsorship deal, lack of funds remains a severe problem and Mr Noore said players and staff have to meet many of their costs themselves.

The lack of money also leads to poor facilities. "The Afghan players are so good at fielding because of the up and down grounds," he said.