Out of the Ashes

If you haven't seen it, watch it. I'm not entirely sure how one can get hold of a copy - I recorded it from BBC4 - but any readers who want to see it are welcome to a showing at my gaffe whenever they want. It tells the story of Taj Malik, an Afghani who learned the game at a Pakistani refugee camp after his family fled the 1979 Russian invasion.

He becomes the coach of the Afghani national team, and at first we see them at their training ground. Most club sides in England have better facilities. There's a clip of the British Ambassador to Afghanistan. He chortles: "They play cricket like war, but when they come up against some decent spin bowlers they're going to be stuffed!"

And watching them play you could be forgiven for agreeing with him. The bowling is all tearaway pace and no direction, the shots to get out are hugely agricultural mows that wouldn't look out of place on the front cover of Farming Weekly. The team arguments are something else - "Why did you send me in to bat with a bisexual!" rants one run-out victim, back in the changing room.

As we get to know the team, we're increasingly rooting for them. We follow them to Jersey, where they're taking part in the WCL Division 5 tournament. This is where the film really picks up. It's as much a film about a clash of cultures as it is anything, as funny in parts as anything I've seen Sacha Baron Cohen do - funnier, in fact, because it's real. The above video gives a pretty good taste.

One of their players isn't sure if this 'pizza' food isn't covered in donkey meat. They see some geriatrics line dancing in their hotel and their reaction is one of utter bemusement followed by uproarious laughter. Everything around them - and it is as parochial as it gets - is a source of fascination and excitement.

The other thing that shines through is the sense of pride these men have in their country. Larger, more powerful countries have tried to subdue Afghanistan since the Great Game of the 1800s - before, really - and almost all have found themselves humiliated. This is a country of warriors. It's not the most beautiful - it's dusty, scruffy, pock marked with bullet holes and shell craters -  but that's not how they see it. It's theirs, and they're damned if they're letting it down.

On & off the field the drama is as tense as one could imagine. Without wishing to give away what happens, I challenge you not to shed a tear as the story develops and one of the most depressing betrayals one could imagine is carried out. In fact, events evidently got too much for the film-makers - I don't think they ever dreamed the team would have the adventures it did, and the final third loses much of the intimacy that makes the bulk of it so special.

It's still a great film. If C.L.R. below was one of many who made a convincing case for cricket as art, this is cricket as raw, unbridled warfare - and it's as hilarious and moving and ultimately uplifting as you could imagine.