Monday 27th April, 2009 13

As the club was in free fall club or SLC. from Tier A towards the bot- THE BACKSTOP Raees said “Since we tom of Tier B, these boys started seeing on TV were chopped and changed in we always loved Sri Lanka the and players and its people. We order, which lowered their never thought that Sri Lanka confidence further. would treat us like this”. The penultimate straw Hasti said “Sir, I don’t mean occurred at the Air Force anything personal, but I will ground where the team never come back here arrived to play a key game. again.” Raees and Hasti, (whose In the afterglow of their arrangements were handled World Cup tournament tri- by the SL Cricket Board) umph, one hopes that Raees were denied entry to the Ahmadzai and Hasti Gul, two ground and sent back to young men from an Afghan Moratuwa. The Sebs team refugee camp who climbed management did not protest fees and expenses but refused out of their personal hell and or boycott the game which to give them a penny. SLC conquered the hearts of they played. was approached and declined cricket lovers all over the Raees and Hasti decided to help world, will forget their short, to go back home especially as On the day of their depar- sad visit to Sri Lanka. they had used up all their ture they borrowed some And hopefully, Hasti Gul savings on food and expens- funds to buy a few souvenirs will reconsider his promise es. The final straw was yet to for their families. It is not not to return when come: Sebastianites CC had known if they have since plays against agreed to pay them match received their dues from the Sri Lanka one day. The Afghanistan cricket team after winning Division 5 title of the . Despite not having best of facilities, the Afghan cricketers have had an impressive run in international cricket. Afghan cricketers achieve a miracle! by Roy Bishop However Afghanistan impoverished youth. The Afghanistan cricket rounded off the tournament The urchins who team has, in the last few and their incredible long came for the crumbs at months climbed a cricket march with a convincing win the World Cup mountain and achieved a veri- (in the play-off) over Scotland Qualifying high table table miracle to firstly, reach to secure fifth place and guar- went back to their coun- the ICC Super Eight stage and anteed ODI status for four try with the ODI cake but then gain fifth place at the years. without the icing of 2011 World Cup qualifying They , batted and qualifying. But like the tournament in South Africa. fielded like men possessed or French peasants, they As a nation without a rather like boys who became can eat this cake all day proper cricket ground, turf men when they realised that and enjoy both the mira- pitches, functioning cricket their “caste” of inferiority cle they have achieved administration or coaching was not justified; that they and the hopes for bigger department; with no crick- can better their opponents’ ones next time. eters with first class or inter- honed skills, equipment and Afghanistan has mir- national experience and no swagger with their simple rored the experiences of local cricket coach, they had ways, iron will and their belief Sri Lanka of old when to compete against experi- that they can win. our players played not for enced cricket countries. After a good start their money but for their coun- From being in the lowly batting fell away but resolute try. A far cry from today fifth division of the ICC World batting by Raees Ahmadzai when the , his League, they won that divi- (38), Samiullah Shenwari (52) vice captain and top play- sion in 2008 in a thrilling final and Hasti Gul, the all rounder ers object to playing for against Jersey. It was a saved the day; showing that their country because of “Lagaan” style victory of vil- they have not only pride and too much cricket (50 days lage lads taking on the sophis- passion, but patience and tem- per year) and not earning ticated “Imperial“ team. perament. enough (R13 millions per Except that the players Hamid Hassan, their out- year). were not even from a village standing opening bowler in Two players from the but from the refugee camps. this tournament, played in Afghan team have had And, as in the “Lagaan” sandals until recently; Raees, recent, sad experiences match they played with no growing up in a refugee camp of Sri Lanka. Raees and finesse but with pride, intensi- was a tennis ball “Tendulkar” Hasti joined ty and intent that only the dis- until he took up hardball Sebastianites CC possessed of the earth can cricket in the late teens and (Premier B) in 2007, to have. Following that they beat Hasti was a diminutive tear play for them at an Hong Kong for the Division 4 away “Imran Khan” in slip- agreed salary and condi- title and in January this year pers. tions. beat Cayman Islands for the These young men (mostly They had appalling Division 3 title. in their early 20s) with their experiences at the In April they won, con- rustic methods and rusty tools Moratuwa club and went trary to all expectations, have shown that they can back to Afghanistan mid- against Bermuda and match the world in an increas- way through the 2007/8 Denmark, thus qualifying for ingly technology and mechan- season. As strangers in a the World Cup Super Eight ics driven game. They were foreign land (a country stage. not “mind games trained” but Raees said they had held In that tournament they instead had minds forged by in high regard) they beat Ireland, Scotland and war, suffering and poverty; were housed in dingy Namibia to reach sixth place their hearts swollen with the rooms, given mostly which would entitle them to burning desire to give all for unsuitable, sometimes play ODIs – important for their country with every ball stale local food. exposure, international expe- they bowled, batted or when No assistance was rience and ICC funding. they fielded. given by the club to help Finally, they had to beat Afghanistan may not have them to settle, relate and Kenya to qualify for fourth reached the World Cup stage, communicate with the place and join the World Cup but they have shown the world team. Apart from a visit- final group. Like with most that they are a country not to ing coach who went out fairy tales the dream, so close, be laughed at. Their courage of his way to assist them ended with a loss and exit and deeds on the world stage and invited them to his from the World Cup qualifying this month will provide badly home, no club official group. needed role models for their cared about them. ICC and PCB locked in talks Sports Minister driver dead and seven Sri Lankan I am very happy that Mr Lorgat is Aftab Jillani has met with ICC players, a coach and an umpire determined to make sure the Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat to wounded. game survives and thrives in our discuss the future of cricket in Lorgat and Jillani spoke in country. the troubled nation, Dubai on Friday, where Pakistan “I now know the ICC will not cricket365.com reported on its is currently playing a one-day let Pakistan cricket fall back dur- web site. international series against ing this difficult time.” The pair met to discuss ways Australia. Lorgat stressed that the deci- to ensure the sport doesn’t slip In a statement released by ICC sion to strip Pakistan of the World backward after a number of tur- Jillani said he was disappointed Cup co-hosting rights was bulent months for the sport in the at the ICC’s decision to leave through no fault of the PCB and Asian country. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh pledged the support of the ICC in Other Test nations have as the remaining co-hosts in the its quest for a swift return of expressed concerns over compet- World Cup. international cricket to the coun- ing on the sub continent and on “We did not agree on every try. April 17 the ICC removed point but I am confident the ICC is “Our number one priority is to Pakistan as a co-host of the 2011 committed to making sure inter- deliver a safe, secure and success- World Cup due to security fears. national cricket will flourish ful event,” he said. The move came in the wake of again in Pakistan,” “And the uncertainty created last month’s attack by gunmen on “The ICC is a very important by events within Pakistan created the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, body and cricket cannot be a huge question mark over our which left six policeman and a revived in Pakistan without it, so ability to do that.