Afghanistan women cricketers to play a match for the first time since Taliban takeover, game to be held in Melbourne

The Afghanistan women’s cricket team, comprising refugees living in Australia, will play a T20 match against Cricket Without Borders XI at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Thursday, first outing for them on a cricket field since 2021.

The cricket team members, who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, have been living in Canberra and Melbourne since arriving in Australia.

The match will be played ahead of the opening day of the day-night Women’s Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between Australia and England.

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“I think this is a first step. I think it’s going to be such an exciting day on Thursday, and my hope is that promotes lots of conversations, that this becomes an annual thing and then ultimately, that this team were able to compete on the international stage as is their want,” said Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley during a press meet.

“I don’t think any of us can comprehend what they’ve been through moving to a new country in such difficult circumstances, not speaking the language.

“I’m just inspired by their resilience, their love for the game and hopefully this game just raises awareness, a real beacon of hope,” he added.

Nahida Sapan, one of the Afghan cricketers, rated the moment as “historic” but wanted more support from the community.

“It’s really special for us, especially for Afghan women because this is a very historic moment for all Afghan women,” she said.

“We have a big hopes for this match, because this match can open doors for Afghan women, for education, sport and future. We don’t want this to be our first and last match. We want more matches. We want more support.” In men’s cricket, Australia do not play Afghanistan in bilateral matches but continue to face them in ICC tournaments.

The Aussies and the Afghans are placed in the same group for next month’s Champions Trophy.

Earlier this month the politicians from UK and South Africa had urged their men’s cricket teams to not play matches against Afghanistan during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The demands came  in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021.  The cricket board of the two nations though have signalled that the teams will be playing the matches as per the tournament schedule.