For Afghanistan’s women cricketers, their first competitive match since escaping oppression in their home country represents a significant step in their sporting journey – although the path ahead may not be the one they envisaged before.
So what are the ways forward?
Playing as Afghanistan Women
Against Cricket Without Borders, the players will compete as the Afghanistan Women’s XI as opposed to Afghanistan Women and wear a kit specifically designed for the match as opposed to a national team uniform.
Mel Jones, the commentator who was instrumental in helping the formerly contracted Afghanistan Women’s team players escape their country after the Taliban took over in 2021, says that until the ICC recognises them as a national team, those differences are likely to remain.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board and ICC say they cannot do so as it would contravene the country’s laws. This is why Afghanistan have been allowed to retain ICC membership, despite not currently fulfilling the requirement to commit to developing women’s cricket.
The ICC are a member-led organisation, bound by the vote of its member boards and, if the boards who support recognising an Afghanistan Women’s team are in the minority, the governing body can argue its hands are tied.
“Anything to do with these players as a team would be their own individual team,” Jones told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast. “They won’t play underneath the ACB or the Afghanistan flag as a side.
“But what we’re trying to navigate at the moment is how can we allow them the opportunity of still feeling part of their country while not saying that they’re the Afghanistan Women’s cricket team because my understanding is that that will never be the case.
“That is really, really tough for them as a group to try and understand. I still don’t think most of them have got their heads around that at the moment, and that just adds to the trauma. I think, hopefully, that they themselves know that they were the contracted players, the contracted Afghanistan women’s players at the fall of Afghanistan, and they get an opportunity to once again play, for the first time really, as that group.”
Jones acknowledged the complexities of the sport’s governance, but highlighted the need for discussion. She credited Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s outgoing CEO, for meeting the players on several occasions and listening to their concerns.
“The ability to sit down and listen has made such a difference to this group, and that’s probably the one piece that I would say we’ve been really bad at over the last four years, is that people turn their back on that conversation,” Jones said.
“I would hope that if we learn anything from this, if something like this happens again, that we just don’t turn our back on people and hope that silence will make it go away because it just doesn’t.”
Refugee team
In the meantime, one sticking point to fielding a refugee team is that, unlike the Olympic refugee team, which comprises individual athletes from various countries, this team is from only one nation. Any refugee team would have to be open to players in exile from other countries, unless this team is recognised purely as the Afghanistan Refugee team.
Even then, the fact that some of the exiled Afghan players reside in the UK and Canada poses logistical challenges for bringing the team together, particularly without the funding to do so.
Benafsha Hashimi, one of the exiled Afghanistan players in Australia, said the upcoming match could be a stepping stone to wider recognition as a team.
“Of course I want to play under my country name, that is my dream, that was the reason that I’m here,” Hashimi said. “We have tried many times, email and sending the letter to the ICC, but unfortunately all the time they’re just ignoring us, which is quite upsetting.
“We are living in different states, I know, but the thing is we were living in a different state in Afghanistan too. It doesn’t really make anything change. I can still play and we can still catch up. It’s not really a big deal to do it, so I will definitely go for it.
“We said all the time that we can’t go by jumping, we have to go step by step. It’s a good starting step. I’m so excited for it. I can say it’s a special feeling inside that I can’t really explain it how it’s been to me. It’s like a really big step for me.”
Funding
The ECB, who along with Cricket Australia have declined to field men’s teams in bilateral series against Afghanistan, recently wrote to the ICC asking, among other things that they withhold a proportion of funding from the Afghanistan Cricket Board until women’s and girls’ cricket is reinstated in the country.
Firooza Amiri, one of the players who escaped Afghanistan and is now based in Melbourne, told the podcast that this week’s game marked the start of the team’s goal to play for Afghanistan – in whatever guise – and in receiving financial support to do that.
“It’s not only a match for us, it’s a huge step,” Amiri said. “It’s going to be a very big step that we are taking toward our journey of cricket.
“The ICC ignored us as a refugee team and also as a Afghanistan national team that represent Afghanistan and obviously the Afghanistan Cricket Board ignored us as well. But Cricket Australia took a huge step for us.
“From here, it doesn’t matter if we are Afghan Exiles or Afghan XI or Afghanistan refugee team or anything. Our hope is only to represent Afghanistan in some ways… and women outside and inside Afghanistan look at us as a representative of Afghanistan.
“What we are hoping from here is to continue playing for Afghanistan under Afghan XI team and we just want world help us with this journey.”
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
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