ICC World Cricket League : Dawn of a new era for Afghanistan sport

A few years ago, any talk of Afghanistan playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup would have been laughable. But not any more. Thanks to the World Cricket League, which is part of the ICC development programme, Afghanistan has a chance of appearing alongside the 10 full members and three other qualifiers when the Asian subcontinent stages the event in 2011, said a press release of the ICC on Monday.

The Division 5 event starts in Jersey on May 23 with 12 teams battling it out to qualify for the May 31 final which will guarantee them a place in the next stage of qualification. It’s still unlikely but far from impossible Afghanistan will reach the 2011 event and the way cricket is taking off, there is perhaps only a matter of time before we see it taking part in a major ICC event. But even more than that, the WCL Division 5 is an opportunity for this war-torn country to show the world a different side. “After all the turbulent times after the invasion of Russia, I consider it as the dawn of a new era in which our sportsmen will taste international exposure and introduce the new and moderate Afghanistan to the world,” said captain Norooz Khan Mangal, a 23-year-old top order batsman.

“Like any other team, we are traveling to Jersey with the objective to win the tournament and take the first step in the right direction. But at the same time, we would like to make more friends and try to learn good things from the other participants,” he said. “We consider ourselves good and ready for not only the WCL Division 5 but also for the tough season ahead because we have the conviction that we can progress in this tournament. We have to respect the game and our opponents. We will go match by match and event by event.”

Afghanistan is one of six teams in Group B, along with the Bahamas, Botswana, Japan, Singapore and hosts Jersey. Group A is made up of Germany, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, the USA and Vanuatu. Afghanistan was admitted as an ICC Affiliate Member in 2001. After playing its early cricket in Pakistan with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) funding its tours, Afghanistan started showing signs of improvements in 2006 when it beat a MCC team, led by former England captain Mike Gatting, by 171 runs in a 40-over-a-side match.

In 2007, Afghanistan qualified for the ICC WCL Division 5 after finishing third behind the UAE and Hong Kong in the ACC Trophy. In the same year, it came close to qualifying for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2008 in Malaysia when it lost in the final of the ACC Under-19 Elite Cup final to Nepal in Kuala Lumpur. In November 2007, Afghanistan shared the ACC Twenty20 Cup with Oman in Kuwait after both the teams tied on 157 runs and a pitch invasion prevented a bowl-out to decide the winner.

Afghanistan, as part of its preparations for the WCL Division 5, played 14 warm-up matches in Peshawar, Pakistan last month before attending a training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Kabul which has two turf pitches and a bowling machine.

Talking about the lack of experience of his team, Mangal added: “We are new at this level but so are many of the other teams taking part in Jersey. All the teams start on even terms and I think the sides that stick to the basics will qualify for the final which will be enough to earn it promotion to WCL Division 4. The beauty of the WCL format is that you learn with every tournament and by the time you qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup, you have some sort of experience under your belt. But it’s an ongoing process with no short-cuts and we are happy to follow the same path which the top teams have followed.”

According to Mangal, Afghan men are naturally strong and athletic which means fast bowling is their forte. “Hamid Hassan regularly bowls at 140kph while Dawlat Ahamdzai, Hasti Gul Abed and Ahamd Shah Ahmadi are the other pacers with lots of potential and promise. Amongst the batsmen, Karim Khan Sedeq and Nabi Eisakhil stand out. They like to play aggressively and if they fire in the tournament, we will have an excellent chance to return from Jersey with flying colours. While saying this, I am aware that it’s a team game and we have to gel together like a unit and back each other.” Mangal says it is common knowledge in Afghanistan that the national team is going to Jersey to play in an ICC tournament. “People are talking about it, the media is writing about it and it’s an atmosphere we have never experienced before.”

Other teams in Group B include the Bahamas, Bostwana, Japan, Singapore and hosts Jersey. The road to ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 may be difficult but now there is a distinct pathway for developing teams like Afghanistan and the 11 other sides on their way to Jersey. The first target of the teams gathering in Jersey from May 23-31 will be to finish in the top two which will earn them promotion to the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 thus joining Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in a six-team event that will take place in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam from October 4 to 11.

In turn, the top two teams from the Tanzania tournament will progress to WCL Division 3 to be staged in Buenos Aires, Argentina from January 24-31, 2009. The finalists from the Buenos Aires tournament will join the top four teams from WCL Division 2 (the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Namibia and Denmark) and six teams from WCL Division 1 (Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Bermuda and Canada) in the ICC World Cup Qualifier which will be staged in the UAE in April 2009. The top four associate or affiliate teams from the ICC World Cup Qualifier will book their place at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to be staged in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.