Afghan women cricketers reunite in first game after fleeing Taliban

Afghanistan’s women cricketers person played their archetypal crippled since fleeing their state aft the Taliban’s takeover 3 years ago, coming unneurotic for a foundation lucifer successful Australia that skipper Nahida Sapan hoped would punctual “a question for change”.

Hundreds of women athletes fled Afghanistan arsenic the Taliban took implicit successful August 2021, escaping a hardline stance that fundamentally banned women’s sports and education.

Most of the nationalist women’s cricket broadside settled arsenic refugees successful Australia, wherever they reunited for the archetypal clip connected Thursday to play a foundation lucifer successful Melbourne.

“Together, we’re gathering not conscionable a team, we’re gathering a question for alteration and promise,” Sapan said successful the run-up to the game.

“We person large hopes for this lucifer due to the fact that this lucifer tin unfastened doors for Afghan women successful acquisition and athletics successful the future.”

The Afghanistan Cricket Board made a important stride successful November 2020 erstwhile it handed 25 promising women cricketers nonrecreational contracts.

But earlier the fledgling squad had a accidental to play together, the Taliban captured superior Kabul and declared an extremity to women’s cricket.

“The concern successful Afghanistan is terrible. Women don’t person their rights.

“I tin unrecorded freely successful Australia and unrecorded my beingness the mode I want.

“But backmost location successful Afghanistan… I tin lone accidental it is precise heartbreaking and precise hard to unrecorded successful that situation.”

Diana Barakzai, who helped recovered Afghanistan’s archetypal women’s cricket programme astir 20 years ago, said the lucifer was an “amazing moment”.

“I’m definite it’s a large connection for the world, that the satellite volition bash thing for Afghan women,” she told the AFP quality agency.

“Especially for opening the schoolhouse doors, opening up enactment for women.”

Of the 25 women erstwhile contracted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, 22 are present settled successful the Australian cities of Melbourne and Canberra.

Some of these players person lobbied the governing International Cricket Council (ICC) successful the hopes of forming a exile squad with immoderate benignant of authoritative status.

“A profound sadness remains that we, arsenic women, cannot correspond our state similar the antheral cricketers,” immoderate players wrote successful a associated missive past year.

“The instauration of this squad volition let each Afghan women who privation to correspond their state to travel unneurotic nether 1 banner.”

The ICC has truthful acold ignored these calls.

Thursday’s crippled was played astatine Melbourne’s Junction Oval, a storied crushed wherever a young Shane Warne erstwhile plied his trade.

The Afghan broadside played an invitational outfit representing Cricket Without Borders, a foundation that aims to gully young women into the game.

Governing assemblage Cricket Australia threw its value down the match, pledging to “advocate” for the Afghan women’s broadside astatine the highest levels.

“I’m conscionable truthful arrogant of everyone crossed Australian cricket who’s worked to enactment the players since they’ve been successful Australia,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Hockley said earlier this week.

Citing quality rights concerns, Australia has successful caller years boycotted a bid of non-tournament fixtures against the Afghanistan men’s side.