Afghanistan’s women cricketers are in exile in Australia, unable to play. This is their plea

Afghanistan’s female cricketers in exile in Australia have petitioned the game’s powerbrokers to fund the formation of a team outside the control of the Taliban regime.

Rather than calling for the men’s team to be banned from playing – Cricket Australia currently refuses to play Afghanistan outside world cups – the players have written to International Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay to request financial support to be able to take the field.

The founder of the Afghanistan women’s team, Diana Barakzai, at the Kabul Cricket Stadium in 2014.Credit: Reuters

The men’s team, led by Rashid Khan, defeated Australia at the just-completed Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies to make the semi-finals of a global event for the first time.

“A profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers,” the women wrote. “We are asking the ICC to assist us in setting up a refugee team in Australia. It could be administered by the East Asian Cricket office based at Cricket Australia.

“Through this team we aim to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to in Afghanistan.

“Like the Afghanistan men’s team are afforded, we aim to compete at the highest levels. We want to recruit and train girls and women who love cricket, to show the world the talent of Afghan women and to demonstrate the great victories they can achieve if given a chance through the leadership and financial support of the ICC.”

CA’s chief executive Nick Hockley told overseas media on Wednesday night that the issue of ICC funding for the Afghanistan women’s cricketers in Australia would be discussed at the global body’s annual conference in Sri Lanka later this month.

“We understand that the Afghanistan women based in Australia have written to the ICC,” Hockley said. “That’s a matter for the ICC to consider. We have meetings coming up in Colombo in July, and I’m sure it will be a topic of conversation.

“The Afghan women residing in Australia are engaged with the cricketing community, and they’re receiving excellent support from across the community. But it’s not something we were directly involved in.”

The ICC was contacted for comment.

After the Taliban takeover in 2021, 22 of Afghanistan’s 25 female contracted cricketers fled to Australia. They have been playing club cricket locally ever since, coached by Diana Barakzai, who founded the women’s program in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan men’s team has continued to play, and the country’s cricket board has continued to receive International Cricket Council funding despite no longer having a women’s program – as required by ICC regulations.

In last year’s carve-up of broadcast revenue from a new rights deal running from 2024-27, Afghanistan cricket was pledged ICC funding of more than $16 million a year. The board also receives an equal percentage share of revenue from the Asian Cricket Council.

At the next round of ICC meetings in Colombo, any member board, including CA, has the opportunity to lead discussion on whether funding can be provided for the Afghanistan women’s cricketers. The global body also has a multi-million dollar strategic fund for use on growing the game.

Rashid Khan spoke after the World Cup game against Australia about his frustration at not being able to play the world’s leading teams more often. Australian Test opener Usman Khawaja went on to say that CA should reconsider its position.

“It actually hurts the people, and the people are separate from the government,” Khawaja said. “And also the players have stood up for the exact same cause as CA has.

“Rashid has shown me his tweets, and that’s tough to do playing for Afghanistan. So then he said all you’re doing is depriving us players too.”

There is an Olympic precedent for a refugee team in exile to take part in global events: a refugee team has taken part in each Games since 2016. Twenty20 cricket is due for Olympics inclusion in Los Angeles in 2028.

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