Afghanistan set sights on World Cup qualification

Kabul: Afghanistan has only one proper cricket ground and its national squad earns £12 a month, but next month (January), the 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 Argentinian tournament follows a successful year, in which the Afghan side has rapidly scaled the lower leagues, winning both division five and four. Many of the Afghan players have to pay for their own kit and routinely practise using tennis balls wrapped in sticky tape. As a gesture of appreciation for their efforts against overwhelming odds, the team's players were flown to the Hajj pilgrimage as guests of President Hamid Karzai and are now training in Pakistan. "I think we stand a good chance," said Allah Dad Noore, the president of the country's cricket federation. To get this far, he has had to tackle 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. The Taliban regime was also opposed to it.

"They would not agree to accept this game because they told me there was no cricket in Afghanistan," said Mr Noore. "I said 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 draw large crowds and Jalalabad alone has 66 registered clubs. However, facilities are poor.

"The Afghan players are so good at fielding because of the up and down grounds," said Mr Noore.