Voice 1
Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I'm Steve Myersco.
Voice 2
And I'm Ruby Jones. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
A man walks slowly along the sports field. He is wearing a blue and red shirt. He is carrying a white ball in his hand. He stops, turns then begins to run as fast as he can. He is running towards three pieces of wood. They are set close together, sticking up from the ground to form a target. In front of the target, another man waits. He is holding a wooden bat. This man positions his bat, ready to strike the ball. He concentrates on the man running towards him.
Suddenly, the man with the ball stops running. He turns his arm over in a circle and throws the ball as hard as he can. The ball flies through the air at speed. The man with the bat tries to hit it. But it is too fast for him. The ball strikes the middle piece of wood of the target, behind the batsman's legs. And it falls to the ground. He is out!
The man in the blue and red shirt runs towards other members of his team. They jump up and down to celebrate. They have just won the cricket game! The players turn to shake the hands of the opposite team. On the back of their red and blue shirts is the name of their country: Afghanistan.
Voice 2
In April 2009, the Afghanistan cricket team played in a competition in South Africa. The team's aim was to be one of the four most successful teams in the competition. This would win them the right to play in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. This is the highest honour for any national team! The Afghan team played very well. They defeated more experienced teams like Ireland. But they only managed to make fifth place. However the team members were happy with their achievements. Fifth place gave them the official right to play international one-day games.
Voice 1
The Afghanistan cricket team has achieved some amazing results in a very short time! You may remember another Spotlight programme about cricket. In it, we talked about how people started to play cricket in Afghanistan. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan learned the game there. When they returned home, they brought the game with them! The Afghan national team has only been playing together since 2003. But it has brought much joy and pleasure to the people of that troubled country. Kabir Khan is the team's trainer. He says:
Voice 3
"These days, cricket in Afghanistan is like cricket in India or Pakistan. Huge numbers of people follow it. They love it... If you turn on the television, it is showing either the Taliban or cricket!"
Voice 1
Afghanistan is not the only place where cricket is influencing people's lives. It is also bringing people together in another area of conflict in the world.
Voice 2
Some boys and girls run around a dusty piece of ground. They are chasing after a yellow ball. One of them catches it and throws it at a set of three plastic sticks. The ball hits the sticks and the children shout happily. Cricket has come to the small village of Hura, in southern Israel!
Voice 1
The people who organised the game are from an aid group. It is called "Cricket for Change." The group started in the United Kingdom in 1981. Its aim was to help unemployed young people learn new skills. Group members taught the young people a street version of cricket. This was easy to play anywhere. And, they helped to train those who wanted to teach cricket as a job. Cricket for Change also works in prisons and in areas of poverty and conflict around the world. And that is why they are in Hura!
Voice 2
The Cricket for Change people were in Israel for just one week. They came to provide training. On the third day, they took some of the children from Hura to the town of Beer-Sheva. It is only a few kilometres away. But normally these two communities keep themselves separate. The population of Hura is Arab. And Beer-sheva is a Jewish town. It is rare for the two communities to mix. This is not surprising. In ethnic terms they represent opposite sides of the conflict in the Middle East.
Voice 1
Tom Rodwell is the founder of Cricket for Change. He is one of the many people who is working to improve the situation in the Middle East. He explained what it was like for him as a foreign visitor to experience such extreme division. He said:
Voice 4
"This situation is really shocking for me. Coming from Britain, I am used to different communities living next to each other and mixing. But here there is no communication at all between the two. It is because of history. But here we have a chance with the children. Their thinking has not yet been influenced to believe that they must be separate. And there is no reason it should be. That may sound too simple. But they do not need to be separate. "
Voice 1
And that is why Tom Rodwell brought the children from Hura to play cricket in Beer-sheva. The children did not seem to have any trouble mixing! Osher is from Beer-sheva. He said:
Voice 5
"It has been a lot of fun."
Voice 1
Abdullah agreed with him. He has never travelled from his home in Hura to Beer-sheva before. It was also the first time he has played with anyone outside his community. He enjoyed the experience very much. He said:
Voice 6
"I feel really good, because I felt I was playing with good people."
Voice 1
Tom Rodwell was encouraged by the way that the children found it so easy and natural to mix with each other. He commented:
Voice 4
"These children, they are all playing happily together. And hopefully maybe they can grow up together. And then maybe they can help to solve some of the problems between the two communities."
Voice 2
Tom plans to return to Israel in the future. He wants to hold cricket training in Jerusalem. It may be wishful thinking that a game can help to solve such a complex conflict - or any conflict! But it is providing some people with the chance to bring change to their troubled communities. And that is something worth playing for.
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