Cricket-crazy Afghans give Germany a new ball game
Refugees who brought their sporting passion with them are backbone of the burgeoning national team
WHEN Brian Mantle left his native Shropshire for Germany, he little imagined that 24 years later he would find himself presiding over the emergence of German cricket.
Back in the Nineties, cricket was so little known in Germany that it was three years ars before Mr Mantle even found a club lub where he could play. The game was s a hobby for homesick expats, and d when Mr Mantle became chief executive cutive of the German Cricket Federation n eight years ago, it was so cash-strapped pped he had to run it from his spare room.
In the past five years German cricket has as taken off – fuelled by the influx x of refugees in the 2015 migrant grant crisis. Today, there e are 150 clubs and more e than 300 teams, all l overseen by Mr Mantle antle from a suite of f new offices in Essen. ssen.
The national men’s team am made it to the last European T20 0 finals in 2018, and nd missed progressing ng to last year’s T20 20 World Cup qualifier lifier on net run rate. ate.
The national tional side is dominated d by immiigrants from India and Pakistan, and above all by refugees from Afghanistan.
“The ghans have made the difference,” says Mr Mantle, 48, a former management consultant who played for Shrewsbury’s Quayside Cricket Club in the UK. “They are fit and strong and they are absolutely cricket-crazy.”
The rise of cricket in Germany parallels its emergence in Afghanistan. Just as Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban brought cricket with them, a new generation of Afghan refugees is bringing the game to Germany.
German cricket has been transformed by men like Muslim Yar Ashraf, a 21-year-old left-arm spinner who is one of the first names on the t team sheet.
Mr Ashraf Ashraf’s ’s older brother, Shar Sharafuddin, plays for the Afghan Afg national side, and M Mr Ashraf once harboured dreams dr of following in his footsteps. foo But in 2015 the Taliban recaptured his ho home city of Kunduz. His father worked for the government and the family was a target. Sharafudd Sharafuddin was at a trainin training camp, but the rest re of the family were we less fortunate.
The 16-year-old 16Muslim Yar Ya fled to Europe in 2015, walking an and hitchhiking acro across the continent. He w was separated from his parents in the escape and been be unable to find them since.
He came to Frankfurt Frankfurt, where another brother was living, liv and started looking for som somewhere to play cricket. I feel fee better when I play cricket,” he says. “I forget about other problems.” pro The club he joine joined, MSC Frankfurt, trains a at a football ground on the outskirts of the city. ci It’s a far cry from Lord’s – but Afghan cricket made it to Te Test status from humbler beginnings. The team is a mix of Afghans, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and they train with an easy camaraderie
“Here there are no politics, only people,” Mr Ashraf says. He plays for Germany under the same rule that allows Jofra Archer to play for England, having lived in the country for three years.
While cricket is one of Germany’s fastest growing sports, the men’s game is dominated by the immigrant community.
“It’s different in women’s cricket,” Mr Mantle says. “It’s about 70:30 in the women’s team, and 50:50 in the youth side,” he says. “But they’re all starting from the same point. A German man could find himself up against an Afghan who’s opened the bowling against England.”
There are exceptions. Dieter Klein, who plays for Leicestershire and Germany, learned his cricket in South Africa. But Mr Mantle is unequivocal that the Afghan influx has been good for German cricket. He said: “The game was brought to Asia by England in India and Pakistan. The Afghans learnt it in Pakistan, and now they’re bringing it to Germany.
“And the thing about the Afghans is they’re here to stay. Every Syrian refu
‘Every Syrian wants to go home when the war is over. But the Afghans want to make their lives here’
gee I’ve met wants to go home as soon as the war there is over. But the Afghans want to make their lives here.”
Mr Ashraf agrees. He works as a pizza delivery driver, but is applying to train as an electrician. “It was my dream to one day play a Test match for Afghanistan,” he says. “Maybe one day I will play a Test match for Germany.”