"In Afghanistan, cricket can change lives": The English woman using sport to give hope to a nation

To view Afghan cricket’s journey through a purely sporting lens is to underplay its significance; this is not so much about a squad’s on-field triumph as a sport’s capacity to redefine a nation

Kabul. Picture the scene. The capital city of a nation ravaged by war. A name synonymous with conflict, with chaos, with terror. A country without hope, without heroes, without a way out.

And then imagine the faces of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Hazratullah Zazai etched onto steep, concrete walls at every street corner. The architecture of an unbreakable struggle adorned with the images of a force for good, all in a country where certainty had ceased to exist.

Consider a land that knew only disunity, where the scars of four decades of combat had left an aggressive, on-edge society.

And then think of those same people coming together to celebrate a cricket team; a motley crew initially doubted, criticised and then doubted again.

Cricket was banned by the Taliban until 2000. It was only a year later that Afghanistan became affiliate members of the ICC. Even then, cricket was sport, and sport was tainted. But gradually, on a journey devoid of logic, success came and support – both moral and monetary – followed.

When the national side qualified for the 2010 World T20, the streets filled. These same streets that had been fraught with danger became the scene of a country’s greatest party. Thousands of people. Afghan flags. Happiness where happiness was not the norm. Not necessarily a unifying moment for an entire nation, but a signal of what might be achievable.

^{Cricket has given hope to the people of Afghanistan.}

It is why Sarah Fane is involved; she has been – in one way or another – for close to three decades: first, as a medical student, then as a wartime doctor, now as the leader of Afghan Connection – a charity whose dual purpose is to educate Afghan children and, in so doing, to introduce them to the world of cricket. They are the best tools available for unbolting the door to a better life.

Through her work, which is supported by the MCC, more than 100 new cricket pitches have been built, more than 100,000 children introduced to the game, more than 40 Afghans trained as ICC-accredited coaches.

The best kind of hero - unsung, aware of her own contribtion, comfortable in the background. She maintains, however, that she is not to thank; that she merely held out her hand to a country in desperate need.

“If we had never been in Afghanistan,” she stresses, “these kids would still be playing cricket somehow. We haven’t been the ones that have made cricket what it is.

“But when you actually stop and you see the joy of these children after they’ve won a cricket tournament, that’s when you can think that, actually, it’s fantastic what we’ve done.

“We have been enablers. These children are so thirsty for cricket, and it is lovely to be able to feed that thirst, even in a tiny way. When you give a little bit in Afghanistan, the flourishing of that little bit is enormous.

“I love the idea of these kids now having heroes and people having these dreams,” Fane adds. “Cricket is making them proud of their country. It makes them feel that they can compete with the rest of the world and that they are not always just the underdog.”

When Fane discusses this notion of competition, she is speaking not of its literal cricketing meaning, but of Afghanistan’s wider rebirth. A country known for its war has been rebranded as an improbable fairytale – through its cricket.

To view Afghan cricket’s journey through a purely sporting lens is to underplay its significance; this is not so much about a squad’s on-field triumph as a sport’s capacity to redefine a nation.

Many learned the game in the refugee camps of Peshawar, Pakistan.

Fane recalls the gradually changing attitude of international audiences. “Whenever I give a talk about Afghanistan and I ask people what they think when they hear its name, it used to just be war,” she reflects. “But now, you get the odd person putting up their hand at the beginning and mentioning cricket.”

What may seem a moot point means far more; global reputations are easily formed, but far harder to shake. And after decades of conflict, displacement, the Soviet-Afghan War and Taliban insurgency, cricket symbolises far more than light relief. It is a not a chance to alter history, but an opportunity to rewrite a future.

Central to the Afghan cause, of course, has been the duo of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi – the picks of T20 franchises worldwide and tangible carriers of their country’s great optimism.

There is no better white-ball bowler on earth than Rashid, while Nabi is the embodiment of this extraordinary voyage – he has been there throughout: from Argentina, Jersey and Bahrain to the Indian Premier League and successive World Cups.

Icons to millions, both on and off the field, there are few athletes who bear greater meaning to so many.

“It is a huge responsibility for them; they are very young, they have a huge amount of influence out there, they are being paid well,” Fane explains.

“But they are very aware of the fact that they are role models. And they are very aware that their opinions matter to young people. If they think it’s good for girls to go to school, then they should be saying that because it will help tremendously.”

The pair have given back immeasurably; both have foundations focused on assisting young Afghans. Although such positions of importance remain comparatively new to Afghanistan’s heroes, these are men who know their place and who they represent.

"When you give a little bit in Afghanistan, the flourishing of that little bit is enormous"

“I respect them hugely,” Fane smiles. “There is huge responsibility on their shoulders, and I feel for them. At that young age, it is so easy to make wrong moves and yet, they are doing such a good job.

“There are so many pressures that we don’t understand here – the pressure to share their money with other people, the pressure to support their community, the pressure to support their country and just the fact that they can’t walk in the streets without being recognised.

“Everyone wants to touch them, everyone wants to see them and feel them and have a piece of them.

“It is probably quite frightening sometimes, because it’s in such large numbers. I think we can’t underestimate what difficult lives they must have. They are amazing. They are not just playing international cricket on a global stage, they are young and interesting and they have huge pressures on them.”

The image of these figures as celebrities personifies sport’s inordinate power to unite. Ordinarily a tiresome cliché, here it is entirely appropriate.

Of course, there are still those who want little to do with it. They view cricket as a game belonging to the Pashtun tribe, while there are others who look at these cricketers as Pakistanis, given that many spent their formative years in the refugee camps of Peshawar.

Yet, at the same time, Fane speaks of a country where the sport is played in 32 of 34 provinces. Fifteen years ago, cricket was nowhere; those who played did so in private and in silence, without telling their families. Sport, after all, was an unwanted distraction.

“Cricket is just the most wonderful way of creating joy in a totally conflict-ridden, desperate place,” Fane counters. “And then how you can use that as a tool for peace. It’s just the power of sport to heal. It is just such a wonderful joy-bringer.

“Seeing the country watching the national team has been such a parallel joy. Seeing cricket everywhere now is so extraordinary – in such a short time. Where you used to see nothing, now wherever you go you see bats and balls.”

One day stands out for Fane on her own personal journey. The entire national team came along to one of the cricket camps run by her organisation. As these modern-day idols coached their star-struck tutees, 10,000 spectators watched on, all of them disciples to an unlikely set of leaders.

Rashid Khan has become a key player for T20 franchise teams around the globe.

The job for Fane is never quite finished. Focus around Afghanistan has dimmed in recent times as speculation of peace talks has flitted intermittently.

In one of the charity’s short films, an Afghan interviewee speaks with a quiet sincerity: “Please don’t forget about us in the future,” he says, his eyes fixed on the camera. As the international conversation heads elsewhere, it is a legitimate fear.

And with four children of her own, there is an indestructible emotional attachment between Fane and the nation she first came across in the 1980s. It is a relationship that has given her the determination to ensure that theirs is a corner that will always be fought.

“You just see the devastation of a country and the suffering and tearing apart of families, especially when family is such an amazing and unique structure in Afghanistan,” she reminisces. Fane returned to the country as a doctor in 2001 when the nation was under Taliban rule.

“Travelling as a mother makes so much difference; I’d meet other mothers in refugee camps with their kids and just hearing about families that had just been torn apart so badly by the war made a huge impact on me.

"I love the idea of kids now having heroes and people having these dreams"

“You see the fact that women are living on their own in communities because the men are working in Iran. Everyone has lost family members and everyone has got family members spread across the world. It’s the closest family structure I’ve ever seen, with all the family living together. But they have all been dispersed by the war.”

It is why cricket is so utterly crucial. It has provided a nation with its reason for being.

Fane’s face lights up as she recounts the excitable pride of Afghans when she has mentioned their cricket team. It has given a once-pariah culture equal footing with the rest of the world. A common interest with a British woman, no less. Cricket, as Fane puts it, is the ultimate ice-breaker.

“All we hear about Afghanistan is the fighting but when you get there, the hospitality and the love that you feel from those people is just extraordinary,” says Fane, who hopes that Afghanistan’s respect for her might eventually lead to a change in the way that the country’s women are viewed and treated.

“These people in these horribly difficult areas have seen the international community come into Afghanistan and they have seen millions of dollars come into the country and they haven’t felt a penny of it reaching their communities. They have felt left alone by the Afghan government and the global community.

“So, even if it’s just a drop and somebody supporting a school and building a classroom or a roof or putting in a well, just the fact that there are people going there and saying: ‘We respect your education, we respect your country’s cricket team’ is incredibly powerful.”

Cricket has offered a way out. Nabi and Rashid have shown what is possible. So, too, has Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who will spend the T20 Blast with Middlesex this summer. Zahir Khan, a young left-arm leg-spinner, played for Lancashire last year, while Qais Ahmad has represented Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash.

Of that quintet, only Nabi is older than 20. And there are many others. Hazratullah Zazai, for one, will light up this summer’s World Cup. In a tournament of mainstream superstars, he may be the breakout name.

The depths of talent are endless in a country where cricket has become the golden ticket.

Never before has this sport been so important to so many. Never has it held the keys to genuine freedom. Never has a country taken to it quite like this. And never has a distant pipedream turned itself into something so physically tangible.

Fourteen years between maiden victory and Test match bow. Less than three decades since the national cricket board was formed.

“The value they hold education in – they will walk hours to go to school, they will do anything to have an education, and it is the same with cricket," Fane says with an admiring glow.

“People know that cricket can change their lives and get them out of their poverty. It is a massive thing.”

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