Last week’s column ended with reference to my interviews with members of the Afghan women’s cricket team, which had been touring England. Since then, there have been developments in plans for their future.
After the International Cricket Council’s Annual Conference in Edinburgh between July 8 and 11, a road map was revealed which could see the team competing in international qualification pathways by 2030. A special taskforce has been reconstituted to oversee what promises to be a tricky and complex road ahead.
Previously, there has been criticism of the ICC not moving fast enough, or not at all, in dealing with the situation in which the women find themselves. Some of this criticism has come from the women themselves. One of them, Firooza Amiri, said in an interview published in February 2025: “Afghanistan doesn’t have a women's team and they are still giving the men’s team the chance to play, and funds. I am so angry. The ICC has never done anything for us. We just want to have a team to give hope to the millions of women in Afghanistan.” Harsh words, but understandable, given the challenges which the women have faced.
An Afghanistan women’s cricket team existed in the early 2010s but folded under social pressures. It was officially relaunched in 2020, when a talent camp led to 25 players being given contacts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board. In 2017, Afghanistan received ICC Full Member status, which allows it to play Test cricket. It also requires the fielding of a women’s team. Following the takeover of the country by The Taliban in August-September 2021, women’s rights have been eviscerated, their participation in sport banned and the women’s cricket team disbanded. Despite this, the ACB has retained full membership, funding and Test-match status, a situation that does not sit well in certain quarters.
In February 2025, a letter signed by nearly 200 UK politicians was sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board asking for England to refuse to play against Afghanistan in an ICC tournament. The matter was discussed at an ECB board meeting. A strongly worded statement was issued in which the situation in Afghanistan was described as “nothing short of gender apartheid.” It added that a coordinated international response by the cricketing community was the appropriate way forward rather than boycotting the match. Furthermore, the ECB donated $135,300 to the Global Refugee Cricket Fund to help female cricketers in exile, as well as continuing to press the ICC to act.
The ECB is not the only cricket board to provide support. Cricket Australia and former cricketers, in particular, have been even more active. In September 2021, Mel Jones, who won two World Cups with Australia, was contacted by an Indian journalist asking whether she had heard about the Afghan women’s situation. No assistance had been provided by the ACB, despite requests from the players, who were now fearful for their lives. Taliban members were searching for them, issuing lethal threats. The journalist put Jones in touch with one of the players and she asked if there was anything she could do to help. The reply was stark — all her teammates and the backroom staff needed to flee Afghanistan.
Jones assembled a tight-knit network of people and launched what she called a backyard immigration service. Somehow, visas and transport were secured to get 120 people into Pakistan. Harrowing tales abound of them passing through multiple checkpoints in Afghanistan. Military flights took them on to Dubai, from where they flew on commercial flights to Melbourne or Canberra, supported by the Australian government.
Once in Australia, the exiled women kept their locations secret, still fearful for their safety. In December 2022 they wrote to the ICC to say that they were living in Australia and wished to know the status of their contracts with the ACB and the funds which the board had received from the ICC for their development. It took a month for the ICC to respond, saying that both the contracts and the distribution of funds were under the ACB’s aegis. This refusal to engage left the women out on a limb and facing even greater uncertainty. However, they did not give up. In June 2024 the Afghanistan men’s team reached the semifinals of the T20 World Cup. The women sent another letter to the ICC asking to be allowed to form a refugee international team. The response has been a long time coming.
Undeterred, the women reunited on Jan. 30, 2025, at Junction Oval, Melbourne, to play a 20-over match against a Cricket Without Borders Charity XI. This was their first match under the Afghanistan banner since 2021, fittingly against a charity which aims to draw young women into the game.
Cricket Australia fully supported the match and has openly advocated for the Afghan women’s team within cricketing circles. The team’s captain, Nahida Sapan, said: “Together, we’re building not just a team; we’re building a movement for change and promise.” The awareness generated by the match placed increased pressure on the ICC to act. However, it took another 18 months for that to materialize.
The players worried that it might be their first and last match together. They had no official funding. After the match, an online fund, Pitch Our Future, was launched by Mel Jones and friends. It has the aim of raising about $1 million to help in securing the team’s future. The ECB and MCC are contributors.
Subsequent boosts to the women’s dreams were provided by a tour of India during the Women’s ODI World Cup in October 2025 and to England in June and July this year, when they not only played matches but also received an audience with King Charles III. They also met Jay Shah, the ICC chair, along with other ICC officials at Lord’s before the Women’s T20 World Cup Final on July 5.
There is now a real sense that the ICC has finally grasped the nettle, as it should. Sapan welcomed its long-term commitment, saying it was reassuring to know the ICC was investing in their future and recognizing that they deserved “the same rights and opportunities as players of other countries.”
The taskforce has been expanded to include representatives from the cricket boards of England-Wales, Australia, and India, as well as Dr. Ros Rivaz, the ICC’s independent director, and Cricket Ireland’s CEO Sarah Keane. The group will oversee coaching, physiotherapy, training camps and competitive fixtures.
One part of the grasped nettle is the ICC’s ongoing relationship with the ACB, which is beholden to The Taliban. The women’s ultimate dream of playing official international cricket is a complex and sensitive issue for the ICC to navigate with the ACB. The players cannot officially represent Afghanistan without the ACB’s backing. It would be a surprise if it was given and, without it, what identity would the team have? Furthermore, which regional qualification pathway would it enter, given that 22 of the 25 formerly ACB-contracted players are based in Australia?
Nevertheless, the issue is now live, another significant moment in the extraordinary journey of these women of indomitable spirit, who possess an unquenchable desire to chase their dreams without fear.
