26 January 2005	Wednesday	15 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Jan 25: A four-member Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF) delegation will visit Australia in March this year to raise funds for the construction of a large cricket stadium in Kabul.

Vice-president ACF Raees Khan Zazai said on Tuesday that the AFC delegates' fund-raising tour has already been approved by the Cricket Australia with the support of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The CA officials have made the ACF offer of the visit and during the weeks long stay in cricket crazy country a huge amount of money is expected to be collected, he said.

Raees appreciated the PCB's timely support for pleading ACF's case with Australia and help in sorting out preparations for the scheduled visit. He said that the PCB had already told ACF to prepare a rough estimate about financing the construction of a cricket stadium in Kabul.

The Afghan engineers would soon make an estimate of the total expenditure to be conveyed to PCB high ups. Flanked by other ACF officials including Abdul Khalil, Abid Gul and Daulat Khan Zazia, he said that on Dec 18, last year, the ACF delegation had a detailed meeting with PCB officials.

About other details of the proposed Kabul Cricket Stadium, Raees Khan said that the proposed stadium would be equipped with all the modern facilities and accommodate almost 10,000 people.

When he was asked about their visit to India, Raees said that he had held a meeting with Dalmiya and discussed a number of problems faced by ACF in promoting cricket in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan national cricket team will play five One-day matches against Indian-A team. He said that prior to matches against India the team had been imparted a month-long training by Indian former star batsman Mohammad Azhar-ur-Din.

Commenting on improving domestic cricket in Afghanistan, Raees said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had provided US$80,000, which would be utilized for improving the game's standard at gross-roots level.

Besides, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had also extended US$35,000 to the ACF, he said adding that the entire amount would be spent on improving domestic structure in the country.

Shehzada Masood Cricket Academy has been established in Kabul. The academy has five practicing nets and a number of young Afghan players daily attend it, he added. -APP