John Leicester

Afghans playing cricket during a friendly match on Wednesday in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province. On Thursday, world governments will meet in London to debate how the war in Afghanistan can be won. A British NGO believes that the sport could have a role in nation building. (AP Photo)

Rise of Cricket in Afghanistan Brings Together a Country Fractured by War

Paris. World governments meeting on Thursday in London will ponder how to win the war in Afghanistan, and cricket could be part of the answer.

Clearly, cricket alone won’t end Afghanistan’s miseries. However, the power of sport to help heal, unite and inspire previously divided nations and peoples is well documented. For proof of that, look no further than post-apartheid South Africa’s triumph in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

So send troops and send aid, but send cricket bats and balls to Afghanistan, too. Why? Because the sport is proving to be an Afghan strength — one of the few activities in which Afghanistan competes against and handily beats nations far richer and more fortunate than itself.

That is making cricket a source of something in short supply from Afghanistan: good news. Imagine the symbolism if, as it should, Afghanistan defeats the United States when they play on Feb. 11 for qualifying places in this year’s World Cup of Twenty20 cricket.

“Cricket as a sport has an absolutely pivotal role to play. It provides not just hope, but it provides a real sense of national identity and an outlet for frustration, for talent, for energy, and it’s a global language,” said former England cricketer and soldier Matthew Fleming, who has traveled to Afghanistan to promote the sport.

Of Thursday’s meeting of foreign ministers and Afghan leaders, he added: “They could do a lot worse than diverting a little bit of the war budget into tangible and optimistic gestures like enabling children to play sport.”

Afghanistan’s cricketing rise has been impressive. In two years, its team has clambered from the lowest international divisions to become one of the top 16 sides, playing in world cricket’s second tier just below established nations such as England, India, Pakistan and Australia.

“We are the first team in Afghanistan history that is winning a lot of matches,” said batsman Raees Ahmadzai, speaking in a telephone interview from Sri Lanka, where the squad is training and playing.

“That is why the youngsters want to play. The national players are like heroes in Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan’s latest victim, Ireland, has lush pitches, sports facilities and peace that Afghans can only dream of. It is the strongest of cricket’s second-tier nations. Yet the Afghans swatted Ireland aside in the Intercontinental Cup over the weekend, handing the three-time champion its first defeat in over five years in that competition.

Afghanistan currently leads the six other teams competing for the cup — an amazing achievement given the matches play out over four days, not the single-day format the Afghans are used to.

“These guys are the real deal,” Fleming said. “They have amazing natural talent, incredible warrior spirit, massive desire to win.”

Back in Afghanistan, Western and Afghan aid groups are riding this sporting success to reach out to children, trying to give them sporting goals to aim for, a taste of life beyond conflict and, as one group said, “Getting kids to pick up bats instead of guns.” Cricket tournaments in Kandahar and Khost in 2008 were used to educate villagers about polio vaccination, and travelers are seeing signs that the game is spreading, with kids using shoes or bottles as bats to hit makeshift balls.

“In Afghanistan, there are no heroes. There are no massively amazing people to look up to. They have had years of war. They don’t have a bag-load of heroes like we do,” said Sarah Fane of Afghan Connection, a British aid group with plans and funding for 30 cricket coaching camps for kids over the next three years, as well as cricket equipment and pitches for their schools.

Speaking of the national team, she added: “Suddenly, these men are doing well across the world and their dreams are coming true. And dreams never come true in Afghanistan. It just brings hope.”

Just as the rebirth of English football’s FA Cup in 1946 and the Tour de France in 1947 signaled a return to normalcy after World War II, so Afghanistan’s cricket success could be a brick in the foundations of restored stability there.

Certainly, images of Afghan cricketers celebrating with impromptu dances after a victory are an encouraging antidote to the more usual footage of bombings, suicide attacks and military operations.

Cricket is a reminder that all is not hopeless for the country.

“Our reputation was very bad during the war time, and now people know Afghanistan for cricket,” Ahmadzai said.

If that could be become wholly true, it would be a victory for everyone.

 


Associated Press

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