ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: My Brother Wasn't Too Happy About My Job, Says Afghanistan Coach

Afghanistan are one of the stories of this ICC Cricket World Cup, with their players rising like a phoenix from the ashes and making, or at least looking to make their mark in the biggest stage of them all.

While heart-wrenching stories of players coming and making their presence felt from refugee camps and more in this war-torn country will bring a lump to your throat or a tear or two to your eye, the story behind Afghanistan's coach is just as fascinating.

Andy Moles, the former England first-class cricketer, is the man at the helm of this wonderfully enterprising Afghanistan side, and what do you think his brother does for a living?

Moles' sibling works in counter-terrorism and, therefore, is not the happiest of men at seeing his brother take a job which involves spending a lot of time in Kabul.

"He wasn't very happy," said Andy Moles to BBC Sport when asked about his brother's reaction on taking the job as Afghanistan cricket coach.

"He's still not happy about the time I spend in Kabul because he hears all the dark things that are happening there."

Moles, who has coaching stints with New Zealand, Scotland and Kenya in his CV, kind of stumbled into the job really, having initially gone to Afghanistan as a batting consultant.

"I was originally approached to do some batting consultancy work," he said. "I went to Kabul for three weeks and worked as an advisor.

"Six weeks later, head coach Kabir Khan decided he'd had enough of the travelling and that he wanted to spend more time with his family, so they asked me to take the job.

"I couldn't resist the opportunity to work at international level again and the World Cup was the cherry on the cake."

Moles admitted it is not easy going to Kabul whenever his job demands it, and he makes sure he does not venture out of his hotel unless absolutely necessary.

"I go to Kabul 10 days to two weeks before each tour, but I don't live there," Moles added. "I just go in and out depending on the touring commitments.

"I stay in a hotel which has got heavy security. I go backwards and forwards to the ground, then back to the hotel.

"I don't go out at night, I don't go out on to the streets. The only time I leave the hotel is to go to work. When I come back, I close the door and have room service in the evenings."

All that might be worth it, though, if Afghanistan make an impact at this World Cup. The side, who were not even in the realms of creation a decade or so ago, are one of the fancied team to create an upset or two and make it to the quarterfinals at the expense of a bigger Test playing nation.

Starting with a victory against Bangladesh today on their World Cup debut might be just the start of bigger things, and then maybe Moles' brother will not frown so much at the thought of his brother's job.