Afghanistan takes on the world - at cricket

Well, maybe not the world exactly, but at least the Netherlands!

The Afghan team didn't look very strong to start with, in a 4-day match scoring just 107 in their first innings.

However, they managed to turn it around on the 3rd day:

The day commenced with Afghanistan requiring 168 runs to win, with eight wickets to spare, on a pitch that had troubled all the batsmen, but Noor Ali and Nowroz Mangal set about the task well.

...

By lunch, the match was hanging in the balance with Afghanistan needing a further 64 with four wickets remaining, having battled back into contention.

The contest continued, and came down to a classic close finish:

With Afghanistan edging nearer their target, Netherlands found the breakthrough they were after, as Ashraf was finally removed by a diving catch by Mudassar Bukhari off Schiferli for 31. This left Shenwari and Shapoor Zadran with the nerve-wracking task of scoring the remaining ten runs, facing the aggressive bowling of a pumped-up Schiferli.

Another wicket fell, leaving Afghanistan with no further chances: if anyone else got out, that was it...

But, in the next over, Shenwari threw his hands at a Bukhari delivery, the ball slashing over the slips for four as Afghanistan snatched an unlikely victory, their first in the Intercontinental Cup, and another significant achievement for a country so new to the international fold.

Afghanistan are dependent upon aid from the Marylebone Cricket Club for their training equipment, so this win is a huge achievement for them.

However, I can't help but feel that the real cause for celebration will come only when the Afghanistan women's cricket team can do the same. (And, no, as yet Afghanistan do not even have a women's cricket team).

I noticed (in searching for the above link) that Jo Christie-Smith has called for a boycott of Afghan cricket to protest the abuse of women's rights in Afghanistan. Also searching for information of Afghan women and cricket, I found a report on the India under-21 women's cricket tour of Pakistan which served to promote women's rights in hardline Muslim provinces of Pakistan (though reading that article, you can see that they didn't move things all that far, and it reveals just how far such efforts have still to go). I'm hopeful that more can be done by engaging than by boycotting - but things MUST be done SOMEHOW.

I started this post just because cricket excites me, and seeing a nation new to the sport do so well excites me too. But Afghanistan is right now not a fun place, and if you're a woman, it's very evil; so I couldn't just leave it at the "squee" factor.