Cricket has acted as a vehicle for good in a country not used tocelebrating
Will Luke18-Apr-2009Shortly after 6pm yesterday, through sheer will power and single-mindedbelief in their ability, a new country was inducted into the ICC’s six teams who hold one-day international status. It is a country more familiar with terror and war than celebration, acclaim and cricket. Afghanistan have truly arrived.The romance of their story will become diluted and clichéd in a fewmonths’ time, if it hasn’t already, but now is a fitting time to bereminded of the journey of refugees who have sprung quite literallyfrom nowhere. Many were born in Peshawar, in north Pakistan. Thoseborn in Afghanistan sought refuge from the seemingly endless waragainst Russia in the 1980s, or from the Taliban, which banned all formsof entertainment. Or from the Americans’ attempt to oust the Taliban in recent years, theconsequences of which still impact Kabul and the country as a whole.In one way or another, through loss of family or the barbed-wireclaustrophobia of refugee camps, all the team have suffered.Like for most children, cricket and sport were an escape, a deliciousdistraction from the humdrum and rigidity of education or parentalcontrol, but moreover from war and the subsequent suffering. HamidHassan, a gifted and intelligent fast bowler, learned the game underhis elder brother’s wing, having seen barefoot and dusty strangersthwack balls on the streets of Tehkal. He only started wearing spikes18 months ago. Raees Ahmadzai, slightly older, grew up in one ofPeshawar’s biggest refugee camps, Kacha Gari, which is now closed, andbecame “the Sachin Tendulkar” of tennis-ball cricket, so renowned washis hitting. He never imagined there was a world outside Kacha Gari,because Kacha Gari was his world. Cricket was his dream, and now actsas a passport to a better life.And like most people, particularly Afghans who have endured decades ofmortars and suffering, hope has been one of the few constants in theirlives; hope and the aspiration to achieve something out of nothing, toquash the prejudiced view that all Afghans are fighters. In racingthrough the divisions of the World Cricket League – the ICC’s venerablecompetition to wheedle the wheat from the chaff – they have proved tothemselves that they can achieve something significant. Moreover,their prominence now on the world stage might inspire their countrymeneither into playing cricket, or simply believing they too can succeed.”I think this will give them back their self-belief,” Sarah Fane,chairman of the Afghan Connection, told Cricinfo. “If you really workat something, you can make it happen and you can succeed. You don’tnecessarily need to have the wonderful infrastructure and equipmentthat [Britain and the West] have got.” Fane and her charity have beendonating cricket equipment to rural locations, building schools andcricket pitches in Afghanistan. Without her or MCC’s interest andfunding, cricket might have passed a generation of schoolchildren by.Now, they have role models too.The road from nowhereMarch 2006 Afghanistan play MCC in an exhibition fixture in Mumbai. Mohammad Nabi scores a hundred and Mike Gatting makes a duck as the Afghans win by 190 runs.June 2006 The team arrives for a historic maiden tour of England. They win six matches out of seven, including a notable fixture against the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.May 2008 A tense two-wicket victory over Jersey secures the World Cricket League Division Five title, the first major step in their journey.October 2008 Nabi takes 4 for 9 as Hong Kong are defeated in the WCL Division Four final in Dar-es-Salaam.January 2009 Another league, another win – this time by 82 runs against Cayman Islands in Division Three in Buenos Aires.April 2009 Victories over Denmark and Bermuda power Afghanistan into the Super Eight stage of the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa.April 2009 Further victories over Ireland, Scotland and, decisively, Namibia secure the sixth spot they need to gain ODI status.Too often lately cricket has cosied up to controversy and made a rodfor its own back. Not a series goes by when we don’t argue over theuse of technology, call for the resignation of an umpire or official,or complain at the quantity or gripe at the quality. This level of cricket is not immune to corruption or farce – it’s a veritable hotbed of ridiculousness in some cases – but the game is somehow simpler and cleaner. Bat versus ball. Twenty-two people playing cricket. And Afghanistan have epitomised this carefree exuberance of playing a game with no distractions other than their single-minded belief that they can, and will, win.Their attitude, while refreshing and mildly amusing in its simplicity,has not won over everyone. In Jersey last year, their excitabledemeanour and expectation that they were going to play in the WorldCup found them few friends on opposing teams. Their attitude, onejournalist told me, was to win and not accept second place. They didwin, and they have kept on winning through that same formula: a potentand occasionally tangy recipe of talent and belief.Their victories in this tournament have been notable for theircomprehensiveness. Bermuda, whose methods and desire are the completeantithesis of Afghanistan’s, were rolled aside dismissively. Ireland,the favourites, and now finalists, underestimated them woefully -albeit on a corrugated pitch – and were bowled out, with Hassan pickingup five. Scotland, too, were simply outplayed.”Good on ’em. They’ve come a long way and have played in a lot of tournaments just to get this far, so any team that comes from Division 3 or 4 and works theirway up to reach the top six, they deserve it,” Pete Steindl, Scotland’s coach, told Cricinfo. “You don’t get there by luck, or without hard work and good performances, so good on ’em.” The surprise factor is now diminishing. Afghanistan are a team to be reckoned with,for the time being at least.With ODI status comes pride, prominence and money, and here is where the caveat lies. Afghanistan remains a nation riddled by decades of war and the Afghan Cricket Foundation has only ever relied on small funding from the ICC, donations from charities, and a sponsorto fund the players’ clothes and equipment. The board’s make-up will need to be reviewed or expanded, a financial officer employed, a media liaison found, a website built and a development programme put in place. The ICC will help – they have to protect their interests – but the inevitable corruption that exists in the politics of a war-torn nation could easily seep into the pores of baby Afghan cricket. As Bermuda have shown so glaringly, money is not the cure but often the problem. The investment Afghanistan will receive is doubtless exciting, but equally worrisome.Everything smells of roses tonight, however, and the future seemsimpossibly bright. For the time being, cricket and its many quirks andirritations has acted as a vehicle for good in a country not used tocelebrating. And that in itself is reason enough to cheer for the gameand for the refugees who relied on self-belief to get them to the top.
