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Afghanistan are the eighth Asian country to be granted Associate membership
The International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced that Afghanistan have become the 37th country to be bestowed with the honour of receiving the Associate membership status.
The ICC made their decision at their annual conference in London.
The nomination for Afghanistan to become an Associate member had come from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) last year after they were thoroughly impressed with the country’s impressive progress and development, despite a war raging on.
“Afghanistan is the only country that receives the Associate membership in a short period of time in reward to the efforts Afghanistan made for the promotion of cricket,” Dr Noor Muhammad, CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), said on the ACC website.
The promotion to an Associate member now means that Afghanistan will get more funding from the ICC and more importantly, they will also gain far more exposure against some of the best teams around.
Before their rise to Associate member status, the ICC was funding Afghanistan $700,000 per year, but that number is likely to increase to $850,000 due to the promotion.
Afghanistan were granted Affiliate membership in 2001 after they toured Pakistan and in 2011, the ICC bestowed an ODI status upon them, which is valid until the end of this year.
Afghanistan have also featured in the last two editions of the ICC World Twenty20 and have played ODI matches against two Test playing nations, Pakistan and Australia.
Despite losing all of their matches, players like Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi have already captured the attention of the cricketing community.
As of right now, the ACB are further developing their cricket infrastructure and also recently signed a deal with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to help them with their development until the 2015 World Cup.
In April, the ACB received a boost in funding after the ICC agreed to give them $422,000 as part of their Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP).
Afghanistan are the eighth Asian nation to be granted Associate membership after Hong Kong (1969), Kuwait (2005), Malaysia (1967), Nepal (1996), Singapore (1974), Thailand (2005) and the United Arab Emirates (1990).
“It is a tremendous achievement by Afghanistan, the current administrators have worked very hard to advance Afghanistan’s interests and much credit goes to Dr Noor and his team at the Afghanistan Cricket Board,” ACC development manager, Bandula Warnapura, said.