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Meet the British mother who helped Afghanistan become a cricket nation

Sarah Fane, founder of Afghan Connection, is spreading the message of 'Getting kids to pick up bats instead of guns' - John Nguyen/JNVisuals
Sarah Fane, founder of Afghan Connection, is spreading the message of 'Getting kids to pick up bats instead of guns' - John Nguyen/JNVisuals

Nasir Jamal, beneath thick streaks of sun cream, has the expression of someone who can’t believe his luck. "The 23-year-old from Logar in Afghanistan is fresh from bowling googlies (his specialty) in the nets at Lord’s the day before he is due to play here in front of thousands. 

It will be both his and Afghanistan’s first time playing at the home of cricket, and it comes less than a month since the side was granted full Test status by the International Cricket Council (ICC), an honour reserved for only for the greatest teams.

Jamal’s journey here is all the more impressive given that he was given his first cricket bat just six years ago, aged 17, at a cricket camp organised by Afghan Connection, a developmental charity founded by British mother-of-four, Sarah Fane, from her Berkshire kitchen table in 2002.

Fane has brought the sport to 22 provinces and built 100 pitches for more than 100,000 young Afghans to use - Credit: John Nguyen/JNVisuals/John Nguyen/JNVisuals
Fane has brought the sport to 22 provinces and built 100 pitches for more than 100,000 young Afghans to use Credit: John Nguyen/JNVisuals/John Nguyen/JNVisuals

“I am so happy,” says Jamal, looking exactly that. “I started playing cricket through these camps. Now I am here. I am so proud.”

Since Fane’s charity began investing in cricket in 2008, it has brought the sport to 22 provinces and built 100 pitches for use by more than 100,000 young Afghans. At the camp Jamal attended near Kabul, as well as a bat, he was presented with shoes and a shirt. “I would sleep with my bat,” he laughs. “I would get up in the night to play in my room.”

Now, while he represents his country for its inaugural match at Lord’s, his nephews and younger brothers are using the same slab of willow to see if they can beat a similar path to fame and fortune.

This extraordinary team has come from the refugee camps to the world stage

Sarah Fane

Jamal’s story is representative of what is happening all over the country, and Afghanistan’s recent rise through the world rankings in a phenomenon the likes of which the history of the sport has never seen.

The national team, born in refugee camps in Pakistan, learnt using sticks for bats and tennis balls covered in gaffer tape. They hit balls hard and high and bowled fast. Fearlessness marked them out; they had nothing to lose. The first national trials were held in 2003 and when, the following year, Afghanistan was invited to its first international tournament many players didn’t even own passports. 

Now, despite decades of war, threats from Taliban insurgency and Isil-backed militants – the security threat means it is too dangerous to play their home matches in Afghanistan – the side has reached the ICC’s top 10 for one-day internationals and Twenty20. In 2015, they qualified for the World Cup, beating Scotland by a wicket (Jamal was 52 not out) and dropping commentator’s jaws with their flair and panache in the process. This year, they have beaten the West Indies and triumphed against Zimbabwe. On Wednesday, they will play South Africa, who are first in the ODI rankings.

Fane first visited Afghanistan as a war zone doctor in 1987  - Credit:  John Nguyen/JNVisuals/ John Nguyen/JNVisuals
Fane first visited Afghanistan as a war zone doctor in 1987 Credit: John Nguyen/JNVisuals/ John Nguyen/JNVisuals

It is perhaps apt that growth of the world’s most polite sport in the harshest of conditions can be attributed, in some part, to British intervention. Fane’s mission has always been to spread grassroots access through training camps, equipment and running tournaments.

“Playing team sports, and against each other, brings different ethnic groups together,” she explains. “It is the one thing that really unifies the country. It also teaches kids they can’t just storm off the pitch – they have to learn the rules of cricket. They have to play together.”

The rise of cricket has brought so much joy. It has given kids their childhood back.

Sarah Fane

She first visited the country while working as a warzone doctor in stints between 1987 and 2001, and was struck by the population’s “resilience and determination”. Staying with Mujahideen to organise clinics for refugee women and children, she eventually returned to the Berkshire Downs to have four children of her own.

Now her charity’s tagline is “Getting kids to pick up bats instead of guns”, and it is a message that’s ringing through.

“There are a lot of problems in Afghanistan,” affirms Jamal, “but a lot of children are now joining games and spend their days playing cricket and doing good things.”

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has partnered with Afghan Connection, and its president Matthew Fleming has visited Kabul and Jalalabad to explain the spirit of the game and help build pitches.

On dusty patches of ground bordered by desolate mountains, crowds of up to 12,000 have been known to gather at the cricket camps intended for 50 boys, and local governors have diverted funds to cricket development in their area as a result. In many places, girls are being taught, foregoing burkas to better wield a bat. “The impact has been beyond our wildest dreams,” says Fleming.

“When I travelled in Afghan in 2001, there was very little cricket,” says Fane. “There was no hope. All many children in had known was conflict and damage. The rise of cricket has brought so much joy. Joy is the one word I would use. It has given kids their childhood back. It has given them heroes to cheer, happy news and a game that they can all go out and play.”

It’s true the Afghan national team’s fans are euphoric; swamping stadiums, dancing on pitches and turning up with flowers and music. At the Lord’s match last week, they turned up more than two hours before play was due to start with an ebullience that flummoxed the stewards.

The idea for cricket as a path to peace came from Fane’s son, Alex, then 14, who had read about the struggling national team in 2007.

He wrote to former England cricketer and Kent Captain Fleming, who was more than happy to bring the MCC on board. In 2008, Fane delivered donated kit to the National Academy in Kabul. “That was just a dust field at the time,” she recalls. “I somehow took out three great big bags stuffed full of shirts, wickets, balls and bats. They were absolutely thrilled to receive it. They were in the World Cricket League Division 5 and generally hadn’t had much support.”

Out of the pits, with no real proper help, this extraordinary team has come from the refugee camps to the world stage

In the years since, players coached through the camps have gone on to play U16 and U19 for national sides.

At one camp former Afghan captain, Raees Ahmadzai, who was coaching, couldn’t hit any balls bowled by one particular boy. “He said: ‘You’ve got to come to the National Academy tomorrow – your life is changed,” says Fane.

Fane’s initial vision for Afghan Connection was to work with schools in remote areas to provide villages with equipment, school buildings and teacher training for both boys and girls. Her resolve, through this and the cricket, has always been to lift a forgotten, backward nation out from the slump it has grown accustomed to. Without education, it’s her belief that there can be no chance for peace, security and prosperity.

Afghan Conncetion also provides equipment for schools, trains teachers and builds classrooms for boys and girls to learn in - Credit: John Nguyen/JNVisuals/John Nguyen/JNVisuals
Afghan Conncetion also provides equipment for schools, trains teachers and builds classrooms for boys and girls to learn in Credit: John Nguyen/JNVisuals/John Nguyen/JNVisuals

But why the compulsion to stay behind to help when everyone else – British military included – has left? 

“Unless you’ve been to Afghanistan, you can never completely understand,” is her answer. “It’s the people. They are extraordinary in that they have had so much thrown at them. The thing I love most about the cricket is that it shows the world out of nowhere, out of the pits, with no real proper help, this extraordinary team has come from the refugee camps to the world stage. It is so symbolic of Afghanistan and that’s why I love it. Everyone can see that spirit.”

For more information, or to donate, go to afghanconnection.org