Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Afghanistan enjoy an iconic moment in their cricketing history - photo: Getty

They have brought their conch shells and their drums, and are determined to have a party, demonstrated by the conga style procession, which danced behind a drummer around the stands on Saturday.

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Afterwards, the Afghanistan captain Nowroz Mangal reiterated that it was a "huge honour" for them to be playing in the tournament and said it was "unbelievable" to stand on the outfield and hear the Afghanistan national anthem ringing out.

There was a moving moment yesterday as both the team and band were practising at Gros Islet; as the band started going through the Afghanistan anthem, the players stopped what they were doing to listen, and then stood to applaud the band at the end.

A special guest was watching them on Saturday: acclaimed British film director Sam Mendes has joined up as executive producer with a group filming a documentary about Afghanistan's incredible rise through the ranks, to be shown on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ.

The group is made up of the Times' former Afghanistan correspondent Tim Albone, together with Canadian photojournalist Leslie Knott and Lucy Martens, who is glued to her camera lens.

The support of Mendes will no doubt give the film much wider exposure. Who knows, maybe a cinema blockbuster will result. The heart warming story of the Afghanistan team is well documented on this website.

The outfield at Gros Islet seems as slow as the Kensington Oval, but Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt struck powerful blows and found the gaps nicely, or better still, chose the lofted route. It's a big outfield at Gros Islet too.

I'm staying in St Lucia for Sunday's top notch line-up: India v South Africa followed by Australia v Pakistan. Aggers is with the England team in Guyana, and so the next ball by ball commentary will be from there on Monday. There's full commentary on every game once we reach the Super Eights.