Afghanistan and cricket are not normally two words that go together. However, for the Afghan National Cricket team, their recent trip to Jersey proves that there is no better pairing. I linked up with the team in Kabul Afghanistan, and decided it would be a lark to follow the team to Jersey as they competed in the Div. 5 ICC World Championship. Most of the team had never seen the ocean before, or been outside of a Muslim country, which has a strict code of dress and behaviour, especially for women.

Afghanistan is a country mired in war, tradition, and media reports. For the team coming to Jersey, they had left their refugee camp homes and were faced with gin and tonic sipping, sweater sets. The team's biggest hurdle was finding food.

"We are eating Mc Donalds every day. One, because it is cheap, and we have coupons. We really have no money. Secondly we can eat filet-o-fish as it is halal,"said one of the cricket players as he dug into his second large fries with ketchup.

For the players who were sick of the golden arches, they were left having to bless roast chickens. "Allah Akhbar, Allah Akhbar, Allah Akhbar. There it is halal" the coach would exclaim before digging in to the chicken with two hands.

Cultural culinary challenges aside, the Afghans showed their prowess on the pitch and made it to the semi final, and subsequently won the Div. 5 Championship. Winning against Jersey, in Jersey, was an amazing feat for the team who is paid less than a dollar a day to play cricket in Afghanistan, and who have bare minimum of facilitites. Next stop for this Cool Runnings of Cricket? Tanzania in October – Div. 4!