Afghan team gets rapturous homecoming

Afghanistan's fledgling cricket team returned home Tuesday flush with victory from Argentina but calling for financial support as they prepare for the 2011 World Cup qualifying round.

The team was greeted at Kabul International Airport by a mob of enthusiastic fans who presented them with garlands and escorted the players on a small parade through the city.

"We never even thought we could expect to do so well," the team's secretary general, Taj Malik, told AFP. "But the team's main test is still ahead of us."

Victory in the World League Division Three has moved Afghanistan into April's World Cup qualifying round in South Africa. A place in the top two in their group will guarantee a spot in the 2011 World Cup. For a team that formed in 2002, the year after the fall of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime, this was a "historic" achievement, Malik said.

"We thought that maybe in 2015 or 2020 we could be where we are today," he said. The players would rest for 20 days before resuming practice for the big event ahead, he said.

"We will try to strengthen the weaknesses of our team. We will prepare our team for the toughness of the World Cup," the official said.

But Malik expressed frustration at what he said was lack of government financial support for the players.

"So far they have not been given a salary, no one has given them any benefits," he said.

KABUL, Wednesday AFP