Afghanistan Coach Kabir Khan wants more international matches
Kabir Khan, the former Afghan player turned coach has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) and more specifically the Asian Test-playing nations to arrange more matches with Afghanistan. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 and Holland. We've got four Test-playing nations around us and they are not helping”, Kabir said.
In the Asian Cricket Council Trophy 2010 - a one day cricket tournament organized by the Asian Cricket Council for the non-Test cricket nations in Asia - Afghanistan beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. This was the first time that an ACC Trophy winner had been excluded from the Asia Cup. When questioned about this anomaly, the Asian Cricket Council blamed the tight schedule, claiming it would have been impossible to include another team. This came as a huge blow to Afghanistan, who had thought that their win in the ACC Trophy guaranteed them a place in the Asia Cup.
Kabir stressed on the need to play against full member teams to improve their performance and reach their full potential. He said that his somewhat inexperienced team needed time and better opportunities. “It will take time. They [Afghanistan players] need to play all year as they only come together for tournaments and camps, and that's not enough to get the best out of them. Afghanistan has not got the facilities or basic structure so we depend heavily on our Test-playing neighbours to either put one of our teams in their domestic [competitions] or take few of our players for different clubs and groom them for us.”
Kabir was proud of his team for finishing in the third position in the ICC World Cricket League Division One which was recently held in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 Cricket Board before the tournament. “The team fought well in tough matches and never let it go till the last ball or last run. There was a very positive competition for places in the team and all were giving 100%”.
However, Kabir did mention how the disagreement with the Afghanistan Cricket Board had adversely affected the team. “I think it did as all was a mess preparation-wise, and young players who are not used to this type of mental pressure sometimes cannot cope with it. We couldn't have our camp on time and at the desired place suitable to Holland conditions. We could have gone to Holland three or four days before the tournament, acclimatized and would have played few matches too. We applied but never got visa in time.” Given that the Afghanistan cricket team is talented and with the help of full members will improve, the ACB and the team need to sort out their issues if Afghanistan ever hopes to achieve anything in major competitions.
Tags: