Foes on the cricket field, not the battlefield

Right now, hundreds of Australian soldiers are on peacekeeping duty in Afghanistan, running the risk of coming across Taliban fighters and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on every patrol.

IEDs are home-made weapons that have maximum impact and don’t discriminate between friend and foe.

So far 29 Australians have died as a result of fighting within the country; many more have been injured as they try and keep the local populace safe from the Taliban forces that ruled most of the country between 1996 and 2001.

Before that Afghanistan had shot to world prominence after the Soviet invasion back in 1980; after the Communist government fell in 1992, a power struggle ensued as regional warlords ran their own patches without much influence from Kabul.

While on the face of it a stable nation like Australia has about as much in common with war-torn Afghanistan as apples do with blue whales, both nations do share one love: cricket.

Afghanistan’s rise through the cricket rankings came directly from the pages of a fairytale. Brought to the country by refugees returning home after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, the national team have risen up from the ICC’s World Division five, playing those well-known cricket powerhouses of Japan, Jersey and Germany.

While Afghanistan just missed out on qualifying for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, they were awarded one-day international (ODI) status. They won their first-ever ODI, defeating Scotland by 89 runs, before qualifying for the last two Twenty20 World Cups, qualifying along with Ireland out of the top 16 Associate and Affiliate nations in the world.

In February, Afghanistan played their first ODI against a Test-playing nation, going down by seven wickets to Pakistan in Sharjah. Cricket, much like in Australia, is truly Afghanistan’s national sport.

So why don’t we play each other? Invite the Afghanistan national team for a tour of Australia. Have the tourists play a series of first-class matches against state teams, before taking on the Australian one-day side in a three-match series.

Play in places like Canberra, Cairns and Newcastle that would truly appreciate them, places that wouldn’t otherwise host Australia matches.

Have half the earnings go to Afghani charities and the other half to organisations like Legacy and the RSL that support families of those killed or injured in war.

But most of all, show that two countries can bond over sport. Where soldiers can inspire fear, let sportsmen just inspire. Face each other from 22 yards away with bat and ball rather than 100 yards with sniper rifles. Show each other there’s no reason we can’t be equals on and off the field.

Show the people of Afghanistan our soldiers are there as their friends, not their foes as some over there would have them believe.