KABUL, June 11: The Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF), which is already an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council, has applied for membership of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), and also requested permission to send a team to the 2003 Youth Asia Cup, which starts on July 15.

While their membership application is an agenda item down for discussion 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 as the Afghan federation is not yet a member of the council, and that even if membership is approved it leaves little time to include an Afghanistan team in 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 recent war, and has already sent teams to play in two of Pakistan’s domestic competitions.

The decision seems disappointing from the viewpoint of helping develop 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 team to 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.—PPI