A cricketer in Bristol who's father was taken by the Taliban has bowled against the Afghan national team in the nets at the Brightside County Ground.

Ahead of Friday’s World Cup warm-up match between Pakistan and Afganistan in Bristol, 19-year-old Imran Maroof, who arrived in Bristol as a refugee from Afghanistan three years ago, has fulfilled one of his ambitions.

This was the culmination of a young man that has been on an incredible journey, one in which he travelled through several countries, mountains and forests, to arrive in the UK and become a regular for Gloucestershire CC 2nd XI.

Imran grew up in Hissarek, an area between Kabul and Jalabad in Afghanistan. His father was an army commander who was fighting the Taliban, and as a child he grew up in fear of his life, living in tents donated by the UN with limited food, access to water, and electricity.

He did have cricket, though; playing in the street with a piece of wood and a taped ball, a welcome distraction and sanctuary from real life.

It was when his father was captured by the Taliban that the then 14-year-old's mother decided to take action. Sadly, Imran was never to see his father again. He told the Telegraph: "I never met them, I never saw them, we heard them fighting and one day they take my father.

"I have never seen him again - or heard what happened."

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(Image: BristolLive)

Imran's mother packed him into a boot, with three others and they left. Driving from Afghanistan through Pakistan and Iran to Turkey. They walked for two days through the mountains, while their car was at a checkpoint. He said: "It was hot. It was boiling, there was no water and I was really scared. A lot of Pakistani people, they were crying because the agents were hitting them."

After spending time in Bulgaria in a forest, and Serbia in a government camp, he eventually got to Calais, to the infamous ‘Jungle’ refugee camp. He said: "I was four months in the Jungle. I got into a Lidl truck 16, 17 times but got caught by English officers."

Eventually, his mother paid an agent to take them in a lorry, and he arrived in the UK, cold and scared, where he was taken to a police station. He was sent to Bognor Regis: "I was there six months, waiting for the Home Office. I was not allowed to go out of the city. There was a cricket ground but I did not think I could go there. After I was given a permit to stay, I went to my uncle’s house in Bath."

Imran’s uncle had arrived ahead of them previously and had been running a takeaway in the city.

It was his dream to be a cricketer, but had never played a formal match until he arrived. It was the Gloucester Cricket Board and community coach Masoor Khan that would be his saving grace.

He attended some of the various community cricket initiatives the organisation ran and immediately his talent was evident. Khan said: "He was natural, we could all see it. So I linked him up with some of the coaches, and set him on this road.

"What he has achieved through his life in such a short amount of time is remarkable.” Imran did have to learn some basics, and was even taught how to run in between the crease."

(Image: BristolLive)

He made his debut for Gloucester 2nd XI against Ireland, where he bowled one over, and went on to take four for 33 in a T20 game. He currently works in his uncles takeaway in Bath until midnight, but has ambitions to be taken on a paid full-time contract at the club.

Being given the opportunity to bowl against the Afghan national team at the County Ground ahead of the World Cup warm up game is a remarkable end to a chapter in his life.

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One where Imran has travelled five thousand miles to meet his fellow countrymen.

A journey of huge adversity, and if his career continues, a journey that still has much to tell.