The Afghanistan Women's Cricket team have played together for the first time - but the match was so much more than a game

Tooba Khan's life changed forever when Afghanistan fell back into the hands of the Taliban in 2021.

The brutal regime effectively outlawed sport for women, with death as the penalty.

Cricket was Ms Khan's sport of choice — she is a bowler, and a member of the Afghan Women's team — and all of a sudden, she was forbidden to play.

"We were hearing media reports that the Taliban were searching for the players from house to house," Ms Khan said.

"[I realised] if I stay in Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill me. 100 per cent they will do it."

Tooba Khan now lives in Canberra, since fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2021. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

Ms Khan and her team fled the country, helped by sports lawyer and academic Catherine Ordway.

"They were having to move and hide into different houses; they burned their equipment and destroyed any evidence that they'd ever played cricket," Dr Ordway said.

Fast forward to 2025, and the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket team has just made history, playing their first match representing their country — an exhibition match, yesterday in Melbourne.

"This hasn't been only a game for all of us," team member Firooza Amiri said from the grounds.

"It's been to represent and be [a] voice of millions of women's fight in Afghanistan."

'I thought I would never play cricket again'

The journey to the crease at yesterday's exhibition match has been a long and very dangerous one for all members of the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket team.

Sofia Yosofzai, the team’s opening batter, said she feared she would never be able to play the sport she loved again when the Taliban took over in 2021.

"I thought I would never put on the uniform … and play cricket," Ms Yosofzai said.

"I just said 'bye to everything, I put all of my [cricket] stuff underground to hide it."

Sofia Yosofzai expected to never play cricket again before moving to Australia. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

In hiding, and fearing for her life, Ms Yosofzai received an unexpected call from an Australian number.

It turned out to be Dr Ordway.

"I could hear gunfire and what sounded like bomb blasts and so on in the background," Dr Ordway said.

"And I'm asking 'Are you okay? And not surprisingly she said, "No we're not okay'.

"We heard the captain of the women's volleyball team was beheaded by the Taliban, so we knew if they were found that could be what happened to them."

That phone call led to 130 people being assisted to leave the country.

"We were in the darkness … but the Catherine call was a small light to the darkness," said Ms Yosofzai.

"I didn't know that the world knew we existed."

Catherine Ordway, a sporting integrity academic at University of Canberra, was the first person to contact the Afghan cricket team in 2021 and was instrumental in getting the players out of the country. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

Dr Ordway led a team of lawyers, sports administrators and politicians to guide the women through Taliban checkpoints, to Pakistan and on to safety in Australia.

Ms Khan said she was forced to turn her back on her life in Afghanistan, and her memories of life before the Taliban returned to power.

"I deleted all my pictures, all my certificates that I received from different organisations in Afghanistan, I deleted everything," she said.

"I came with one dress, no more, because we thought maybe if the Taliban saw lots of bags with us, that we are going to leave Afghanistan."

Some of Ms Khan's family remains in Afghanistan.

"My family, they are back in Afghanistan still and it was, it was very sad … that I leave my homeland, my relatives, my family, especially my parents," she said.

"It's important that my life is safe, however, every second and every single minute, I miss my parents."

Tooba Khan, Sofia Yousufzai, Benafsha Hashimi and Nilab Stanikzai are some of the Canberra-based members of the Afghan Women's Cricket Team, pictured here with Dr Catherine Ordway. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

Making Canberra their home

Since escaping their homeland in 2021, the team members have gained permanent residency in Australia across Canberra and Melbourne.

The cricketing community has supported the women since arriving.

"These girls have just been through some horrendous things," OIivia Thornton, CEO of Cricket ACT Olivia Thornton said.

"To be able to settle them into Canberra and into Melbourne using cricket as a vehicle, it's been really special."

Cricket ACT's Olivia Thornton was instrumental in setting up the charity match. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

The team was formed in 2020 by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, prompted by ICC rules that stipulate countries must have men's and women's sides.

But when the Taliban reclaimed power, they effectively outlawed women's sport, so the Afghan women have never represented their country until their game yesterday.

Their first match was an invitational against Cricket Without Borders — a charity which encourages women and girls to play the sport — at Melbourne's Junction Oval.

The players' families and supporters watched on, as did the Governor General Sam Mostyn.

Afghanistan’s target of 103 was beaten in the last over with four balls to spare.

The Afghanistan Women's Cricket Team played against Cricket Without Borders. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

But the result was not the point of the game.

"We [will] shine in the future," captain Nahida Sapan said.

"This is not our first and last match, I want to give this big game to the Afghan women in Afghanistan.

"I want to give this big opportunity and for the Afghan women too I hope, for Afghanistan women for the study sports [in] the future."

Fight to be recognised by the ICC

While the match was a moment to celebrate, there's still doubt about what comes next for the Afghan women's team.

They can't truly represent their homeland because they're not formally recognised by the International Cricket Council [ICC], and are unable to play another country.

The Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Cricket Board is funded by the ICC, and also doesn't recognise or fund the women's team, which means in administrative terms they don't exist.

The women have appealed for the ICC to help them directly, in an attempt to circumnavigate the board.

"It's [been] almost three years," Ms Khan said.

"We are writing letters, sending to the [ICC] and asking for support, asking for funding, asking for help.

"[Funding] can support us to improve our cricket skill, to show like Afghan girls, they are in Australia, they have their rights."

Tooba Khan is passionate about showing other Afghani girls they can play cricket too. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

The team said they felt ignored by the ICC, which gives the Afghanistan Cricket Board millions of dollars in funding — some of which is supposed to flow to the women's team.

The ICC would not confirm the funding amount, but in a statement to the ABC it said: "We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan."

"The ICC has shown a distinct lack of leadership," Dr Ordway said.

"The ICC has an enormous amount of power in this space, an enormous amount of money.

"We want to promote cricket around the world and there are Afghan women all around the world, young girls that are desperate to play cricket."

'We want a chance to show to the world that we exist'

Despite being beaten in the last over with four balls to spare, members of the Afghanistan Women's Cricket Team loved being able to play together. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

The Australian men's side has refused to play bilateral matches against Afghanistan to protest the Taliban's gender policies.

It will, however, play its upcoming ICC Champions trophy game against Afghanistan to prevent disruption to the structure of the tournament.

"We've been very focused on what we can do as a cricket board, as a country, to support, to advocate," said Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley, who organised and funded the charity match.

"[We want to] really shine a light and hopefully that leadership position encourages others to come along on the journey."

Canberra-based members of the Afghan Women's Cricket Team training hard before their match in Melbourne. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)

While mostly resettled in Australia, the Afghan women's team is in fact a diaspora across Australia, Canada and the UK.

Australia isn't alone when it comes to opposing the Taliban via cricket.

In the United Kingdom 160 parliamentarians have written to the England and Wales Cricket Board urging the England men's team to boycott their ICC Champions Trophy Match.

Anti-apartheid campaigners in South Africa have urged a similar boycott.

"We want a chance to show to the world that we exist," Ms Yosofzai said.

"We love cricket, we would like to show the world that we can represent our country."

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