Afghanistan and Ireland Are Poised to Join Cricket’s Elite – New York Times
Given the perennial concern over whether Test cricket a slow-paced, tradition-bound game in which matches can last five days is a sport out of sync with the time pressures of the modern world, the elevation of Ireland and Afghanistan could help the format. It almost certainly will be presented as a response to the now-common criticism that the I.C.C. has failed to do enough to broaden the appeal of cricket beyond its historical power bases.
Critics of the games leadership had long thought that new Test nations would never be admitted, given the perceived unwillingness of crickets largest countries above all Australia, England and India to share the sports wealth.
The vote will take place at the I.C.C. Annual Conference in London. One rationale for advancing the two nations at the same time is that the votes they would acquire as full members would maintain the existing balance of power between Asian nations and the rest of the world.
Afghanistans journey to crickets elite has been particularly remarkable; its promotion to Test status is expected to come only 13 years after the national teams first official international fixture.
The sport first took hold among Afghan refugees living in Pakistan during the 1980s, after they had fled the countrys war against the Soviet Union. Many Afghans came to learn the game by watching locals play it or after seeing it on television. Kacha Garhi, a refugee camp in Peshawar, was a hotbed of Afghan talent.
In 1995, Allah Dad Noori, a refugee returning to Kabul, formed the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (since renamed the Afghan Cricket Board). The sport was allowed to exist under the Taliban regime that ruled the country at the time, Afghans said, largely because of its conservative dress code and because, rather than being viewed as an English or Western sport, it was instead seen as a Pakistani import. The Taliban, in fact, encouraged the cricket federation to apply for I.C.C. membership, which was granted in June 2001.
With a team composed of former refugees and supported by a diverse array of foreign governments, including Germany, Sweden and the United States, Afghanistan soared up international crickets lower rankings.
In 2010, Afghanistan qualified for the World Twenty20 the international championship of the fast-paced hybrid of Twenty20 cricket and five years later it made its first appearance in its first Cricket World Cup, which is played in the one-day international format.
Today, Afghanistan is ranked in the top 10 in both one-day internationals and T20 cricket. Afghanistan also has built a formidable cricket player pool as well as a youth system that has eroded the countrys past reliance on refugees from Pakistan. The sport has also helped unify the countrys disparate groups. It brings peace to every tribe, Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistans former captain, said.
Ireland has overcome different obstacles. While cricket has deep roots in Ireland and had appeal throughout the country during the second half of the 19th century, the sport suffered for its associations with England. Cricket was widely viewed as an English sport, especially in the Republic of Ireland. Ed Joyce, a leading Irish batsman, has said that as a boy he regularly hid his cricket equipment when traveling on trains in Dublin.
An all-Ireland team formally joined the I.C.C. in 1993, but the sports progress in the country remained slow. In 2001, Ireland used a journalist as a substitute fielder during a qualification tournament. It was Mickey Mouse cricket, Joyce later said.
Even as Ireland defeated Test opposition in three consecutive World Cups and developed a homegrown team, its bids for Test status were ignored, and its cricket board was left frustrated when three top players switched to play for England.
Uncertainties remain; it is unclear if I.C.C. payouts to Ireland and Afghanistan will match those to other Test nations, and the Afghans still cannot play on home soil for security reasons. But that will scarcely detract from either countries sense of achievement.
Its pretty extraordinary, said Paul Stirling, an Ireland cricketer. It is the pinnacle of the game.
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Afghanistan and Ireland Are Poised to Join Cricket's Elite - New York Times