Marylebone CC’s Hamid Hassan on the right with fellow Afghan cricketer Mohammed Nabi

Afghan bowler makes his debut at Lord’s

AN Afghan cricketer has been selected to play at Lord’s for Marylebone Cricket Club – following a surge in popularity of the sport in the Middle East.
Hamid Hassan, the first cricketer from Afghanistan to play at the legendary stadium, starred in a match against Europe’s best XI on Thursday.
He bowled ‘beautifully’, according to reports of his nine overs, taking a wicket and only conceding 23 runs.
But his team crashed to defeat against the Europeans.
Led by ex-England captain Mike Gatting – they were thrashed by 179 runs.
Mr Hassan was first spotted in the inaugural MCC v Afghanistan match in Mumbai last year.
“I loved my time as an MCC Young Cricketer, so I’m honoured to be returning to Lord’s to play for the club,” he said.
“It will be a dream come true to play on the most famous ground in the world.”
Cricket’s popularity in Afghanistan surged after many of the refugees who had fled the country in the early 1980s, following the Soviet invasion, began to return from Pakistan – where they saw the game and started to play and follow it.
In the last decade, the membership of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation has grown by more than 20 times, from 500 to 12,000 members.
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It's very interesting to look at the reasons behind the popularity
of sports across the world; as this article highlights, there are often many
socio-economic and cultural reasons behind how sports become popular.

?Karl Chads