With Afghanistan on the cusp of reaching the ICC World Twenty20, a new school pitch paid for by donations from Guardian readers has opened in Jalalabad

Introduction by Andy Bull

In 2010, Afghanistan's national cricket team played in its first major international tournament, the World Twenty20. Two years later, the team are on the cusp of repeating that success. On Thursday they play Namibia in the semi-finals of the ICC's World Twenty20 qualifying tournament. If they win, they will take their place alongside the likes of India, England and Australia in the full tournament later this year.

When Afghanistan were knocked out of the 2010 World Twenty20, the Guardian, together with the charity Afghan Connection launched a small campaign to help support the development of cricket in the country. It costs £2,200 to build a new school cricket pitch in Afghanistan. The generosity of the Guardian's readers meant that far more than that was raised.

This month, the cricket pitch paid for by the Guardian's donations was opened at Faqrullah High School in Jalalabad. Ivar Andersen, a Swedish journalist, visited the school and sent this report.

A cricket pitch to treasure

The bright green fields of wheat, irrigated by the melting ice of the Hindu Kush that fill the Kabul river, signify that spring has come back to Jalalabad. Besides being the capital of Nangarhar province, the city is also Afghanistan's cricket capital. Its proximity to neighbouring Pakistan is one explanation for that. It was there, in the refugee camps, that many who had fled the fighting at home first learned to play and to love the game. That means Jalalabad is rich in cricketing talent. Many of the national team's current players come from the city or its surrounding areas.

At Faqrullah High School, in the Surkh Rod district on the outskirts of Jalalabad, cultivating that talent has become easier. "Yesterday we met and beat Kalei Shahi, that's another school from this district," says Abdel Baset, the most feared fast bowler at Faqrullah High. For the first time, Baset and his Faqrullah team-mates were able to prepare for the match by practising on their new, purpose-built, concrete cricket pitch, financed by donations from Guardian readers.

The concrete pitch has been constructed at the far end of Faqrullah's schoolyard. It isn't big enough to contain an entire cricket ground, so all the overs have to be delivered from one end during matches. Faqrullah's PE teacher also serves as the team's coach. However, that title is mainly ceremonial, one of his colleagues explains in confidence. Cricket is, to a large extent, the sport of the young generation of Afghans, and as far as tactics and techniques go, the students often know more than their teachers. Over time that will change. The charity Afghan Connection, who worked with the Guardian, has launched a series of training camps for coaches which have been funded by the Marylebone Cricket Club. Thanks to them, 24 teachers will train to the International Cricket Council's level 1 or level 2 coaching standards. Faqrullah High School has just won a local school cricket jamboree, and if it carries on being so successful in provincial tournaments, the team might be assigned a new coach in the near future.

With the unlikely success of the national team, cricket has established itself as the war torn country's No1 sport, and is steadily growing in popularity. Nowhere in Afghanistan is this more apparent than in Jalalabad. On almost every street, kids play, using plastic bottles as improvised bats. Baset is 17, but seems older than his years. Unlike many of his team-mates, he was never a refugee. "I learned to play five or six years ago, right here in the district."

At Faqrullah, the team trains twice a week, but the pitch is being put to good use on a more frequent basis – during every break and every day after school hours. The Guardian's donations also paid for kit. Some equipment is still missing, like proper stumps, that don't need to be supported by bricks or meticulously thumped back into the unforgiving dirt when they have been knocked over.

Those kinds of petty inconveniences, however, appear to be of little concern to the players. The students in the lower grades, serving as enthusiastic fielders, cheer loudly when Baset claims another wicket.

Top local batsman Abdul Khalil proves harder to dismiss. The 18-year-old racks up fours and sixes. "The pitch really makes practice easier," he says as he steps off. He picked up a passion for the sport in Pakistan, where he lived until his return home in 2005. And his favourite cricketer is still a Pakistani, the aggressive all-rounder, and former captain, Shahid Afridi. "But I also like Hamid Hassan of the Afghan national team, he's a very good fast bowler."

Hassan might well be the most common answer when the youth of Jalalabad are asked to pick their role model. It's small wonder. Hassan, who has appeared for the MCC and recently landed a £25,000 contract to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, is a native of Nangarhar's poor countryside. And as such, serves as proof that it might pay off to dream big. "I would like to pursue a career in cricket," Khalil confirms.

For Baset, the choice is less obvious. "Of course, I would like to play cricket, but Afghanistan has many problems and the future is uncertain. I want to go to university, that's the most important thing."

In a country ravaged by decades of war, and faced with the possibility of another civil conflict when the International Security Assistance Force pulls its troops out in 2014, there are no guarantees that building cricket pitches will effect positive change. But as far as the kids of Faqrullah are concerned, the Guardian pitch does make the distance to their dreams some 22 yards shorter.

Baset also expresses a wish, that the intense interest in cricket will play a part in building a common national identity and healing Afghanistan's internal wounds. "The country needs to unite. The most important thing for this to be possible is peace," he says seriously, before adding with a smile. "But the second most important thing is cricket."