The Afghan players, the cricket players will receive the support of the CIRCUKET MONTRY organization (Photo of Martin … More
In the midst of increasing pressure, the International Cricket Council announced a dedicated fund and a high -performance program for Afghan cricket players forced to flee their country torn by the war since the bloody buyout of the Taliban in 2021.
But as I recently pointed out, there will be no sliced ​​sanctions on the Afghan Cricket Council. This means that the male team will continue to play international cricket despite the vocal opposition of Powerhouses Australia and England.
The situation of Afghan women was the most thorny and saddest problem in cricket, their displaced players and most of them found themselves in Australia as refugees.
In a major tonic, the news of welcome funding was announced during quarterly ICC meetings in Zimbabwe.
The ICC will associate with the three most powerful and richer countries of cricket – India, England and Australia – to “establish a dedicated fund to provide direct monetary assistance, ensuring that these cricket players have the resources they need to continue to continue the game they like”.
Afghanistan played Melbourne in January (photo of Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images)
“This will be supplemented by a robust high performance program offering advanced coaching, world class facilities and tailor -made mentoring to help them reach their full potential,” the CPI said in a press release.
This is a major announcement and launches the mandate of the new president Jay Shah, who directs his first ICC meetings. As a former boss of Indian cricket, there has been cynicism on his ascent to the management of global cricket, but the all-powerful Shah has shown that he can be a change agent.
“In collaboration with our precious partners, we are proud to launch this working and support group, supplemented by a full high performance program, to ensure that displaced Afghan cricket players can continue their trip to sport,” said Shah.
“This initiative reflects our constant dedication to global cricket growth and its power to inspire unity, resilience and hope.”
Jay Shah is the new ICC chair (photo by Gareth Copley / Getty Images)
But questions remain. We do not know how many funds will be engaged and if it will leave the distribution of Afghanistan from the ICC.
Last year, as I pointed out, it was pushed by Australia to put aside a percentage of Afghan income to finance female cricket. But he failed to materialize due to the high cost of the Afghan male team. They do not play cricket at home due to safety problems and were mainly based in water and in India.
It is also not known if Afghan women will be able to form a national team and compete with other nations. They represented in January an Afghan female who played against a borderless cricket team in Melbourne, an event that also put the question to the spotlight.
An Afghan feminine XI played in January (Martin Keep / AFP photo via Getty Images)
There have been public and internal pressures on the sanction of the Afghanistan cricket commission, which is mixed by the government, and effectively prohibiting the male team from playing.
The Board of Directors of Afghanistan receives approximately $ 17 million per year as part of the ICC income distribution model. But the cricket power brokers have no appetite to stop the ultimate history of sport, a national team that gives hope and inspiration to such a battered nation.
It is an increase that has been strongly pushed by specialists in the CPI marketing in a rare history of cricket propagating beyond traditional borders.
The announcement of funding is in a way a compromise of a sub-press leading body, but will always be received with open arms of refugees so desperate to continue the sport with which they fell in love in their country of origin.