Melbourne: Female cricketers from Afghanistan hope their first competitive match in Australia will "open doors for Afghan women for education, sport and future".
An Afghanistan Women's XI played a 20-over exhibition match against Cricket Without Borders at Melbourne's Junction Oval on Thursday, before the Women's Ashes Test between Australia and England at the nearby Melbourne Cricket Ground, the BBC reported.
More than 20 members of the Afghanistan national team have been in Australia since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, because female participation in sport in the country has effectively been outlawed.
But they are now hoping to send a message of hope and positivity to their country.
"We are going to represent millions of Afghan women who are in Afghanistan and denied their
rights," player Firoza Amiri told Cricket Australia before the match.
"It's very special for all of us to get back together after three years, leaving everything and losing everything back home in Afghanistan," she said.
In 2020, 25 players were given professional contracts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board but after the Taliban returned and they could no longer play or train safely, they had asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for permission to play as a refugee team. The request was denied.
For the exhibition match, the side could not play under the name of Afghanistan women because they are not recognised as a national team by the ICC and they had to wear a custom-made kit as opposed to the official logo.
Benafsha Hashimi, one of the Afghan players, designed the logo which depicted a red tulip and a golden wattle - the national flowers of Australia and Afghanistan - entwined around a cricket ball.
With the message of hope driving the players, the match delivered a joyful occasion with each run applauded like a century and players from both sides embracing the friendly spirit.
England captain Heather Knight was in attendance despite the fact she was leading her side in the Ashes Test match just a few hours later, alongside the Australian Governor General and Clare Connor, the deputy chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
There are two sets of Afghan players in Australia, based in Melbourne and Canberra, and the match saw them unite for the first time since their arrival.
Many of the players did not speak English when they arrived but had to learn it to help them settle and apply for jobs.
Nahida Sapan says that the players are always playing for more than just themselves.
"We play for Afghanistan, it means a lot for Afghan women because with this, they can and we can hope," Sapan told Cricket Australia.
"This match can open doors for Afghan women for education, sport and future.
"We are building not just a team, we are building a movement for change and improvement."
There have been calls for teams to boycott fixtures against Afghanistan men, who England are due to meet in next month's Champions Trophy.
ICC regulations state full membership is conditional upon having women's cricket teams and pathway structures in place.
However, Afghanistan's men's team has been allowed to participate in ICC tournaments seemingly without any sanctions.
As a result, Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, in a letter signed by more than 160 parliamentarians, said England's players should use their "power" to "make a difference".
ECB chief executive Richard Gould said "a coordinated, ICC-wide approach would be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions by individual members".
An ICC working group, set up after the Taliban takeover in 2021, met with representatives of the Afghanistan government and said it was keen to use its position and the sport of cricket to
influence change in the country.
The governing body added it was their intention to "support the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan".
Its stance is that the ACB is not in control of government policy and therefore players should not be punished for it.
