HEROISM in the face of overwhelming odds has long been a staple of British military tradition, not least when those legendary opponents, Afghanistan, have been involved. And so it proved at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, where a scratch side of Officer Cadets fought manfully and to the bitter end against potent and focused opposition.

As Afghanistan eased past Sandhurst’s total of 129 with half of their 40 overs and seven wickets to spare, the Last Post sounded across the playing fields and the flag outside the dressing-room was lowered. It was a sombre yet touching gesture. Britain’s involvement with the country has returned to the headlines for the wrong reasons, but the respect between the nations spans centuries. The hardships of a life at Sandhurst is nothing compared with that of the average Afghan, yet there are more similarities than you would imagine.

In 2002, Allah Dad Noori, the former president of the Afghan Cricket Federation, trekked on foot and by mule through the Khyber Frontier to Pakistan, to deliver a crucial letter to try to secure Afghanistan’s ICC affiliate status.

Yesterday, a third of the Academy’s 780-strong intake embarked on a 70- kilometre yomp through the Black Mountains in South Wales — a stroll in the park made that little bit more taxing by the inclusion of 12 command tasks such as lugging a full barrel of oil to the top of a hill and back down again. Among those cadets was one Mohammad Akhbar Arian, 25, the first Afghan since the Soviet invasion in 1979 to take up a place at Sandhurst.

On any other day, he might have been playing against his countrymen, having learnt the game, like so many others, during his nine-year exile in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. Among his opponents would have been Mohammad Nabi, the undisputed star of the side, who ripped his leg breaks with venom for figures of four for 22, but was not called upon to display the batting skills that earned him a place on MCC’s groundstaff.

For most of the cadets, this was their first match of the season, and it was sheer military discipline that allowed them to emerge from an exacting contest with pride. The mainstay of Sandhurst’s performance was Officer Cadet Michael Sheeran, a former captain of Newcastle University. He had just returned from ten days in Thetford Forest, where he had been digging trenches — ideal preparation for a stoical 64.

In weeks, several of these players could be on the frontlines of Basra, Sierra Leone or Afghanistan itself. More bridge-building exercises such as the match just completed can only help the greater good.