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July 5, 2024
Former members of the Afghanistan women’s cricket team (AWCT), who have since found refuge in Australia, are urging the International Cricket Council (ICC) to help them establish a refugee team in their new country. In an open letter to the governing body, they expressed their disappointment at not being able to represent their country like the male cricketers were able to do at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which concluded last weekend.
The ICC reportedly cannot grant official recognition to the AWCT because the Taliban doesn’t acknowledge women’s teams and it fears that pressing the issue could endanger lives. However, the team has requested recognition through a different approach — by being designated as a refugee team comprising only of exiled Afghan women cricketers with adminstration by the East Asian Cricket office based at Cricket Austrlia. Currently, Cricket Australia refuses to play Afghanistan outside world cups.
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, 22 out of 25 contracted AWCT players re-settled in Australia. Upon its takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban imposed strict rules on women that restricted their rights and included banning them from sports, studying in universities, working for NGOs and much more. Sportswomen, including cricketers, were hiding in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, with some women reporting threats of violence if they were caught playing. A Taliban official told The Guardian that “it is not necessary that women should play cricket.”
In the open letter to the ICC Chair, Greg Barclay, the team say that it aims to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to do so in Afghanistan. The 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is set to take place from October 3-20 in Bangladesh and currently Afghanistan remains the only ICC member country without a women’s team.
“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.”
The letter continues: “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. Our goals in having a refugee team are to develop and showcase our talent, give hope to the women remaining in Afghanistan, and to draw attention to the challenges women of Afghanistan face.”
Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said that ICC funding for the Afghan women’s cricketers would be discussed at the ICC’s annual meeting in Sri Lanka later this month.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
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