Andy Moles has grown rather used to holding his breath. The former Warwickshire batsman spent six years as coach and director of Afghanistan Cricket.
‘The entire time I was there, there was the danger of terrorist attacks,’ he tells Sportsmail.
These days his fears lie elsewhere. After 20 years the Taliban are back in control of the country, and one of cricket’s greatest fairytales threatens to unravel.
Lance Klusener’s team go into the World T20 with ambitions clouded by the Taliban takeover
The Taliban have forcibly taken over Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years (pictured, a Taliban fighter in the capital Kabul)
The Islamic fundamentalists were ousted in 2001 — the same year Afghanistan joined the cricketing community. The country has since risen to the sport’s top table and enters the Twenty20 World Cup armed with a fearless, talented side and former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener as coach. Soon, however, politics could render Afghanistan international pariahs once more.
‘All that hard work...’ Moles says, ‘hopefully it doesn’t get undone.’
Last summer, Moles was replaced, briefly, by Raees Ahmadzai. A former captain, Ahmadzai was among the first generation of Afghan cricketers whose run-up began in the refugee camps of Pakistan — shrapnel from the Soviet-Afghan war. No electricity, not enough hospitals for Ahmadzai to know his birthday.
Near enough, though, to a family who had a television — early memories of Alec Stewart linger. So, too, the stick ‘bat’ and a ball made ‘from any plastic that we could borrow’.
The first semblance of an Afghanistan team emerged a few years later. Now the likes of spinner Rashid Khan are among the world’s best players.
Klusener, the former South Africa all-rounder, is taking charge of a fearless and talented side
The ICC will discuss Afghanistan’s fate next month but already seams have started to fray. Australia are threatening to postpone a one-off Test after the Taliban suggested girls would be barred from playing cricket.
Rashid, meanwhile, stepped down as captain over selection disputes with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), who are now led by a Taliban puppet.
At least their World Cup place is safe following fears the Taliban would insist on their flag and anthem being used. That could have prompted a players’ boycott. Bad idea, given the likes of Rashid are ‘cult-worshipped’.
‘When I was a boy, I knew Argentina because of Diego Maradona,’ Ahmadzai says. ‘Now people know Afghanistan because of cricket. Because of Rashid.’
Jafar Haand, author of Three Centuries: History of Cricket in the World and Afghanistan, says: ‘Cricket is more than a game for Afghanistan — cricket is hope. This is the time to help Afghanistan. Don’t leave them behind, everything will vanish.
‘Whenever there is a cricket game, people feel safe, people think they are connected to the world, at least they have something to enjoy.’
For youngsters filling the streets for ad-hoc matches, it offers an escape route — the national stadium opens its doors from summer’s first light.
Andy Moles (left) spent six years as coach and director of Afghanistan Cricket
‘Kids come in from 4.30am until 7pm,’ Moles recalls.
For politicians, meanwhile, cricket has become a crucial tool of law and order.
‘One of the provincial governors told me that when there is a match the violence graph decreases,’ Haand says. ‘In rural areas, if you have a TV in your home, the entire village will come and watch.’
Cricket has become such a financial boon for Afghanistan — why would any government jeopardise their international standing, ICC funding and the livelihoods they protect?
‘The Taliban love cricket, they know cricket is more than a game in Afghanistan and that it could be a good political tool,’ Haand says.
