Talented teenager who escaped militia fighters in Afghanistan caught Freddie Flintoff’s attention during BBC series
, Adnan Miakhel played cricket with whatever he could find. He bowled for hours with a tennis ball and fashioned a bat out of a tree branch. His obsession with the sport grew and grew.. What do you want to do in the future? Cricket. Everything cricket, cricket, cricket.”, one of the best clubs in the UK, having been granted asylum by the government after an appeal by the former England star Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff.
The softly spoken teenager, whose only English when he arrived was “cricket” and “police”, has become something of a local celebrity in his new home town of Chorley, Lancashire, after stunning Flintoff with his cricketing ability in the BBC seriesMiakhel’s talent was obvious from the moment he walked nervously into the Preston college gym where Flintoff’s team were training.
Miakhel was playing for his new team, Wigan cricket club, on Saturday when Flintoff made a surprise appearance to congratulate the family. The young boy, unsurprisingly, was traumatised by his journey and overwhelmed by his new surroundings. He told the BBC documentary that he was “really scared” and would just sit in his bedroom. At home in Afghanistan there was no electricity or technology, he said.
Jefferson said there had been many sleepless nights during the 12-month wait for Miakhel’s claim to be decided. Asylum claims from unaccompanied minors are supposed to be decided within six months but in reality many wait longer.
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