Afghan women cricketers urge ICC to create refugee team

Afghanistan’s female cricketers in exile in Australia have petitioned the game’s power brokers 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.

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