Afghan cricket captain shows confidence amid bombs

Allah Dad Noori has the smooth, confident patter of a sports captain anywhere in the world.

Except Noori is in charge of the Afghan national cricket team, making a rare international appearance just as his homeland is under bombardment by the United States.

He flashed a quick smile on Monday and gave polished answers as he watched his batters struggle early in a two-day match with a team from Nowshera in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province in the opening round of a national tournament to which the Afghans have been invited.

"All of them are good," he said diplomatically in reply to a question about which of his players were standouts.

"God willing, we shall try out best," said the lanky Noori, a fast bowler who opens the attack.

Noori said that once the 16-man team succeeded in getting into Pakistan from neighbouring Afghanistan after the bombing that started eight days ago, he realised his team would attract more attention than usual.

"We do understand there would be some interest," said Noori, who is a wheat trader in the capital Kabul when he is not playing cricket.

"We are showing such spirit under such conditions, we hope we get support," he said.

Air Strikes
But Noori, who returned to Kabul four years ago after living for nearly 20 years in Pakistan as a refugee, said he was anxious about the bombing.

"Yes, of course. It is my country, I am worried about what is going to happen," he said.

U.S.-led forces have launched a series of air strikes on Afghanistan to punish the ruling Taliban for refusing to hand over Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, the main suspect behind the attacks last month on New York and Washington.

"It isn't international standards, but we try," he said of his rag-tag team, made up of students, a carpet salesman and shopkeepers ranging in age from 18 to Nori, the oldest at 28.

It is the third time Afghanistan has played in Pakistan, which has seen a scheduled tour by the New Zealand national cricket team cancelled because of the crisis, and plans to tour Sri Lanka fall through.

The sport is at an embryonic stage in Afghanistan, and owes its inception to the fact that it is the fanatically followed national sport of neighbouring Pakistan, and was introduced to the country by Afghan refugees based in Pakistan during the 1979-89 occupation of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.

Some players still live in Pakistan and travelled to Afghanistan to take part in trials for the tour, which lasts until the end of October.

Noori said the Taliban, known for wide-ranging restrictive policies on many aspects of life from banning music to even cutting the hair of players from a visiting Pakistan soccer team as punishment for wearing shorts, had not stopped the game from being played.

"No, there is no problem. People outside say there is, but there is no problem," said Noori.

Players Pay
However, it was still difficult to get support in Afghanistan, which is near the bottom of most international lists of development after more than two decades of war and ethnic conflict.

"The government does not have any money, so we have to contribute ourselves," he said, although the team has received equipment donated by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's world governing body.

Noori's team was invited in July by the Pakistan Cricket Board to take part in the the tournament as part of an effort to boost Afghanistan's status with the ICC.

Afghanistan is an affiliate member of the ICC and is aiming for associate membership, allowing the team to play in international tournaments.

"Every time we play cricket our main priority is to become an associate member," Noori said.

With the returnees from Pakistan, the sport is expanding in Afghanistan, although there are few facilities.

Some matches have been played in a Kabul stadium often used by the Taliban for public amputations, floggings and executions of those deemed to have contravened their strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

Mail Cricket Editor