The former Afghanistan women’s team has made a call to the ICC to form a refugee team administrated by the East Asian Cricket Office in Australia.
Afghanistan Women Call on ICC to form Refugee Team
Several female members contracted before ACB in 2020 before the Taliban takeover, have requested ICC to assist them in forming a refugee team based in Australia due to the absence of the national side.
The Afghanistan women’s team was disbanded in 2021 when the Taliban returned to Power and banned Women from Universities, parks, and sports and raided the homes of female athletes. Most of them managed to leave the country and are currently living in Australia.
The ICC requires its full members of which Afghanistan is one to have a national women’s team, but the men’s team has retained its test status and reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last week.
But ICC has been silent on the issues even when Cricket Australia has postponed Afghanistan men’s T20I series due to deteriorating rights for women. They have also called off a One-Off Test and ODI series the previous year for the issue.
The ACB chairman Greg Barclay sent a letter to ICC saying, “Creating a team of Afghan refugees can give us a chance to play, coach and administer a cricket team without borders.
“The creation of this team will allow all Afghan women who want to represent their country to come together under one banner.” The Afghanistan women’s team was created nine years after the Taliban regime fell at the hands of a US-led military coalition.
The ACB initially barred the women’s team from playing at several international tournaments, saying it received “Taliban Threats.”
But the female cricketers were handed contracts by the ACB in 2020, less than a year before the Taliban returned to power, ending any progress towards Afghanistan playing an official women’s international.
“We are asking the ICC to assist us in setting up a refugee team in Australia,” said the letter. Through this team, we aim to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to in Afghanistan.
“Our goals in having a refugee team are to develop and showcase our talent, give hope to the women remaining in Afghanistan, and draw attention to the challenges women of Afghanistan face.
“Like the Afghanistan men’s team are afforded, we aim to compete at the highest levels. We want to recruit and train girls and women who love cricket, to show the world the talent of Afghan women, and to demonstrate the great victories they can achieve if given a chance through the leadership and financial support of the ICC.”
