Cricket: Tail-enders had pro dreams

Several members of the Afghanistan under-19 team wanted to stay in New Zealand to become professional cricketers in the hope they could support their families in their war-torn homeland.

They finished last in the recent 16-team World Cup, won by Australia, but no other team faced the uncertainty, the fear for their families, or the knowledge they had to return to a debilitating battle zone.

Most days they rang home to check on their families, said former New Zealand cricketer, selector and White Ferns coach Mike Shrimpton, who took on a temporary coaching role with the Afghans. He says it often made for an uncomfortable environment.

"It's been different, all right," Shrimpton says. "Three or four players lived in the same district where the Taleban gunmen and suicide bombers entered [while the World Cup was on].

"It didn't help it was in the news here with our SAS officers involved in the heart of the capital Kabul, as well as that picture of [VC awarded corporal] Willie Apiata.

"A number of the boys were affected. It became clear one night from talking to the captain [Noor-ul-Haq] that his family was in the basement of their house and there was a gunfight outside. It was a difficult time not knowing what was happening."

Shrimpton says team manager Sayed Shah Aminzai summed up a situation most New Zealanders never have to consider.

"He said families live in considerable danger and every morning he says goodbye to his wife and children like he's not coming home. Imagine every day being fraught with those mindless killings."

Shrimpton says the bombing caused a lot of stress but they managed to pick up their sole win at the tournament against Hong Kong. In an ironic twist, the Afghan cricketing approach was to play with maximum freedom.

"The guys had no real sense of a game situation other than to play naturally. There was an enormous amount of work to be done trying to get them bowling to a field and batting using the full face, playing down the ground. They have talent, but that isn't enough. You need a game plan.

"Most of them played as individuals rather than a team and you had difficulties between members from different areas of the country."

Cultural issues also intervened. "I could be in the middle of a team talk in front of the whiteboard and suddenly devout Muslims in the team would leave for prayers. I didn't have a problem with it but it was disconcerting."

There was also the issue of players being served pork, a Muslim no-no, in Napier. Players were thought to have eaten flecks of ham in some scones and had to adjust to the fact they had sinned, albeit unknowingly.

"It was blown out of all proportion," says Shrimpton. "It was a misunderstanding with a well-intentioned catering lady, trying to spice up the local cuisine."

Shrimpton says it's hard to envisage a solution to the Afghan conflicts any time soon.

"As I understand it, they've only been back playing cricket in and around Kabul for about 15 years. Instead it was played largely by those who, when the Russians invaded [on Christmas Eve, 1979], went to live in outlying areas of the south-east or in Pakistan. A lot may have got their early coaching across the border.

"The tragedy [of Afghan cricket] is there's no infrastructure. When they go home, there's nothing to go to. The senior side does most of its training in Dubai. There's just one grass wicket in the entire country, which I suspect is just rolled dirt in Kabul."

Consequently, a lot of the Afghan players were keen to stay on to have a shot at becoming professionals. However, Shrimpton struggles to see that as a solution.

"Some of these young fellows need to play in Australia and New Zealand on grass wickets getting tuition. Most would love to. But I suspect it's not going to happen with their language and culture being entirely different.

"Maybe one way would be to house them with an Afghan family in Auckland or Christchurch. It's difficult to see how their lives can be changed when they're living in a war-torn country."

To top off their woes, President Hamid Karzai rang to ask why the team weren't winning.

Despite all this, it hasn't dampened Shrimpton's cricketing enthusiasm. "Would I do it again? Yes, I would."