Afghanistan’s women cricketers played their first game since fleeing the Taliban three years ago, a charity match in Australia that captain Nahida Sapan hoped would spark “a movement for change”.
Hundreds of women athletes fled Afghanistan as the Taliban took over in August 2021, escaping a hardline stance that essentially banned women’s sports and education.
Most of the national women’s cricket side settled as refugees in Australia, where they reunited for the first time on 30 January to play a charity match in Melbourne.
“Together, we’re building not just a team, we’re building a movement for change and promise,” Nahida Sapan said in the run-up to the game.
“We have big hopes for this match because this match can open doors for Afghan women, for education, sport and in the future.”
The Afghanistan Cricket Board made a significant stride in November 2020 when it handed 25 promising women cricketers professional contracts.
But before the fledgling squad had a chance to play together, the Taliban captured the capital, Kabul and declared an end to women’s cricket.
“We have sacrificed a lot to be here today,” said cricketer Firooza Amiri after the match.
“The situation in Afghanistan is very terrible. Women don’t have their rights. I can live freely in Australia and live my life the way I want. But back home in Afghanistan… I can only say it is very heartbreaking and very hard to live in that situation.”
‘Profound sadness’
Diana Barakzai, who helped found Afghanistan’s first women’s cricket programme almost 20 years ago, said Thursday’s match was an “amazing moment”.
“I’m sure it’s a big message for the world, that the world will do something for Afghan women, especially for opening the school doors, opening up work for women.”
Of the 25 women once contracted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, 22 are now settled in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Canberra.
Some of these players have lobbied the governing International Cricket Council in the hopes of forming a refugee team with some kind of official status.
“A profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers,” some players wrote in a joint letter last year.
“The creation of this team will allow all Afghan women who want to represent their country to come together under one banner.”
The council has so far ignored these calls.
Thursday’s game was played at Melbourne’s Junction Oval, a storied ground where a young Shane Warne once plied his trade.
The Afghan side played an invitational outfit representing Cricket Without Borders, a charity which aims to draw young women into the game.
Clad in cricket pads, helmets and blue shirts of a similar shade to the national men’s side, the Afghan XI gathered for a brief team prayer before batting first.
After setting a target of 103 runs from 20 overs, they were pipped with just four balls to spare.
Shazia Zazai, the former Afghan national captain, top scored with 40 runs from 45 balls.
Governing body Cricket Australia threw its weight behind the match, pledging to “advocate” for the Afghan women’s side at the highest levels.
“I’m just so proud of everyone across Australian cricket who’s worked to support the players since they’ve been in Australia,” chief executive Nick Hockley said earlier this week.
Citing human rights concerns, Australia has in recent years boycotted a series of non-tournament fixtures against the Afghanistan men’s side.
ICC prosecutor requests warrants
On 23 January, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced that he had requested arrest warrants for two top Afghan Taliban officials for the repression of women.
Karim Khan said in a statement he asked judges to approve warrants for the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhunzada, and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing the men of crimes against humanity for gender-based persecution.
“These applications recognize that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” Khan said.
Since they took back control of the country in 2021, the Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond sixth grade.
Last year, Akhundzada banned buildings from having windows looking into places where a woman might sit or stand.
Human rights groups applauded the ICC’s move against the Taliban leadership.
“Their systematic violations of women and girls’ rights, including education bans, and the suppression of those speaking up for women’s rights, have accelerated with complete impunity. With no justice in sight in Afghanistan, the warrant requests offer an essential pathway to a measure of accountability,” Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Afghan women’s group the Afghan Women’s Movement for Justice and Awareness also celebrated the ICC decision and called it a “great historical achievement.”
“We consider this achievement a symbol of the strength and will of Afghan women and believe this step will start a new chapter of accountability and justice in the country,” the group said the following day.
New refugee fund
On Friday 31 January, a day after the big game, the London-based Marylebone Cricket Club announced that the women cricketers will be the first beneficiaries of a new global refugee fund.
The MCC campaign’s initial focus will be to raise funds for Pitch Our Future, an Australian-led programme that supports players from the former Afghan women’s team, providing training facilities and educational opportunities.
The fund aims to raise an initial £1 million ($1.2 million), with contributions from the England and Wales Cricket Board, corporate sponsorships, government grants and donations from other international boards.
The MCC owns Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and is the custodian of the laws of the game.
Rob Lynch, interim chief executive and secretary of MCC, said: “The Global Refugee Cricket Fund represents a vital step forward in our mission to use cricket as a force for good.”
Clare Connor, deputy chief executive of the ECB and a former England women’s captain, said: “The cricket community must take action to support the brave Afghan women and to give hope that cricket can be a sport for any woman or girl.”
The England men’s team have faced calls to boycott their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in Lahore on 26 February. But the game is set to go ahead even though the Taliban’s move to effectively ban female participation puts the Afghanistan Cricket Board at odds with International Cricket Council rules.
Both the ECB and Cricket Australia have said they will not play the Afghanistan men in bilateral series but will face them in global tournaments, where a failure to take the field would likely see their teams docked competition points.
