One of the charms of sport is seeing underdogs upsetting the established order by overcoming teams they seemingly have no chance of beating. All sports have examples of such upsets. Long-term realities about relative strengths can fall in the short run. Ah, the glorious uncertainty of sport!
On occasions, the underdogs even do it against the most unpromising of backgrounds. Take Afghanistan in cricket, for example. Twenty years ago the country was mired not only in domestic poverty, war, political turmoil and natural disasters, but its cricketers were in the fifth and bottom tier of the International Cricket Council’s competitions. Amazingly, they surmounted the many disadvantages they faced and by 2017 had climbed all the way to the holy grail of test status. Once there they won three of their first six test matches. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland fell far short of that record in their early years as test nations.
Along the way, and despite invasion, regional warlords, the harsh oppression of the Taliban in government and having to play all their games outside their own country because of security concerns and sub-standard facilities at home, they also performed creditably in the ICC’s World Cups in the 50-over and T20 formats.
Then, last year, they won four of their nine matches in the 50-overs-a-side World Cup in India and briefly looked like making the semi-finals. They thrashed England and put themselves in a winning position against Australia before Glenn Maxwell stole the game for the Australians with one of the greatest innings (and most stunning batting heists) of all time. Only by losing that match and the next one, to South Africa, did the Afghanis miss out on reaching the tournament’s last four.
Now, in the ICC’s T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean, they have continued to upset fancied opponents. They beat New Zealand, then Australia, and finally Bangladesh to seal a place in the semis. From there, riches beckoned.
Afghanistan’s has been a rise from the most unpromising of cricketing seedbeds. No others of cricket’s lesser lights have done remotely as well in recent times. Their spinners and quicks alike have perplexed the best batters in the world, their top-order batting has been a revelation and they have fielded with discipline and elan. They have progressed in no time from cricket’s third world to compete with its first world teams, and along the way they have given their people reason for joy in a country where joys are few and far between.
Importantly they have given hope of a sporting future to the rising generation of Afghani kids – at least the boys. The girls, sadly, will have to wait for the eclipse of the Taliban before they too have a chance to shine on the cricket field.
Now Afghanistan’s male cricketers are knocking on another door: that of the World Test Championship, the apex of the red-ball game. They have yet to be admitted, but their record is demanding they be noticed.
Afghanistan’s cricket is a success story of modern sport that deserves to be recognised and celebrated. In a world of much conflict and misery, one in which sport can seem trivial and unimportant, the country’s cricketers have shone a light of hope for the disadvantaged and the downtrodden. They are showing that sport can be a useful distraction amidst poverty and political turmoil, and a source of pride for a poor country.
Sadly, though, the Taliban remains unconvinced that women too should be able to play and excite. Under advice (or pressure) from the Australian government in 2022, Cricket Australia pulled out of a test in Australia against the Afghanistan men’s team because of the Taliban’s prohibition of women’s cricket. Interestingly New Zealand is scheduled to play one against them in India in September.
Chas Keys is a former academic and emergency management practitioner. He was from 1997 to 2004 the Deputy Director General of the NSW State Emergency Service, with responsibility for planning to warn and evacuate people from approaching floods.
Chas writes occasionally about the politics, culture and ethics of cricket.
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