da marjack bet： The Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF), which is already an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council, has applied for membership of theAsian Cricket Council (ACC), and also requested permission to send ateam to the 2003 Youth Asia
Suhael Ahmed11-Jun-2003The Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF), which is already an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council, has applied for membership of theAsian Cricket Council (ACC), and also requested permission to send ateam to the 2003 Youth Asia Cup, which starts on July 15.While their membership application is an agenda item down fordiscussion at the ACC meeting on June 14, and likely to be approved, it will probably be too late for Afghanistan to compete in the youth tournament. Syed Ashraful Huq, the ACC’s chief executive, has turned down their request asthe Afghan federation is not yet a member of the council, and that even ifmembership is approved it leaves little time to include an Afghanistan teamin the tournament.However, he said that if ACF membership is approved then they could take part in the Under-17 Asia Cup, which is to be held later this year.The ACF is active in building up cricket in Afghanistan after the recentwar, and has already sent teams to play in two of Pakistan’s domesticcompetitions.The decision seems disappointing from the viewpoint of helpingdevelop cricket in the region, a primary goal of the Asian Cricket Council. Surely a special case could have been made to allow an Afghan youth teamto play while their application was pending? Such a decision would have allowed Afghan youngsters to gain useful experience against stronger Asian teams while boosting the ACF’s morale as they develop cricket in their wartorn country.