The Afghanistan Women's Cricket team have played together for the first time — but the match was so much more than a game - Voice of Asia

In 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, and Tuba Khan's life was drastically changed. The Taliban's brutal rule effectively banned women from participating in sports, with violators potentially facing the death penalty. Cricket, Ms. Khan's most beloved sport, where she was a bowler and a member of the Afghan women's national team, was suddenly off-limits to her.

"We learned from media reports that the Taliban were going door-to-door searching for players," Ms. Khan said. "I realized that if I stayed in Afghanistan, the Taliban would definitely kill me, one hundred percent." Since fleeing Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2021, Tuba Khan now resides in Canberra. With the help of sports lawyer and academic Catherine Ordway, Ms. Khan and her team escaped Afghanistan.

"They had to move and hide in different houses; they burned their equipment, destroyed all evidence that they had ever played cricket," Dr. Ordway said. Fast forward to 2025, and the Afghan women's cricket team has just made history, playing an exhibition match in Melbourne, their first time representing their country. "It's not just a game for all of us," team member Feroza Amiri said on the sidelines, "it represents the fight of millions of women in Afghanistan and gives them a voice."

"I thought I would never play cricket again," the journey to participate in yesterday's exhibition match was long and perilous for all members of the Afghan women's cricket team. The team's opening batter, Sophia Yousofzai, said she feared she would never play the sport she loved when the Taliban took over in 2021. "I thought I would never wear the uniform again...play cricket," Ms. Yousofzai said, "I just said goodbye to everything, I buried all my cricket gear underground." Sophia Yousofzai thought she would never play cricket again before moving to Australia.

While hiding and fearing for her life, Ms. Yousofzai received an unexpected call from Australia. It was Dr. Ordway. "I could hear gunshots in the background and what sounded like bombs going off and things," Dr. Ordway said, "I said 'are you ok?' And unsurprisingly, she said 'we're not ok.' We heard the captain of the women's volleyball team was beheaded by the Taliban, so we knew the same thing could happen to them if they were found." That call led to 130 people being helped out of Afghanistan. "We were in the dark... but Catherine's phone call was a little beam of light in the dark," Ms. Yousofzai said, "I didn't know the world knew we existed."

Catherine Ordway, a sports integrity scholar at the University of Canberra, was the first person to contact the Afghan cricket team in 2021 and played a critical role in helping the players leave Afghanistan. Dr. Ordway led a team of lawyers, sports administrators, and politicians who guided the women through Taliban checkpoints, into Pakistan, and ultimately to safety in Australia. Ms. Khan said she was forced to abandon her life in Afghanistan, and the memories she had before the Taliban's return to power. "I deleted all the photos, all the certificates I got from different organizations in Afghanistan, I deleted everything," she said, "I only took one dress, nothing more, because we thought if the Taliban saw we had a lot of luggage, they would know we were leaving Afghanistan."

Some of Ms. Khan's family members remain in Afghanistan. "My family, they're still in Afghanistan, it's very sad... I left my home, my relatives, my family, especially my parents," she said, "It's important for my life to be safe, however, every single minute, I miss my parents." Tuba Khan, Sophia Yousofzai, Benafsha Hashimi, and Nilab Stanikzai are some of the members of the Afghan women's cricket team in Canberra, pictured with Dr. Catherine Ordway.

Since fleeing their homeland in 2021, members of the team have been granted permanent residency in Australia, in Canberra and Melbourne. The cricketing community has been supporting the women since their arrival. "These girls have been through some horrific things," said Olivia Thornton, CEO of Cricket ACT, "to be able to use cricket as a vehicle to help them settle in Canberra and Melbourne has been really special." Olivia Thornton of Cricket ACT was instrumental in organizing the charity match. The team was formed in 2020 by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, due to the International Cricket Council (ICC) stipulating that countries must have both men's and women's teams. However, when the Taliban regained power, they effectively banned women from playing sports, so the Afghan women only truly represented their country for the first time at yesterday's match.

Their first match was an invitational game against the 'Cricket Without Borders' team at Junction Oval in Melbourne, a charity that encourages women and girls to participate in the sport. The players' families and supporters watched the match, as did Governor-General Sam Mostyn. Chasing 103 runs, the Afghan team defeated their opponents in the final over with four balls to spare. The Afghan women's cricket team played against 'Cricket Without Borders'. However, the result of the match was not the focus. "We will shine in the future," captain Nasheeda Sapan said, "This is not our first and last game, I want to dedicate this important match to the women of Afghanistan. I want to provide this important opportunity for the women of Afghanistan, and I hope that Afghan women can learn sports in the future."

While the match was a moment to celebrate, the future of the Afghan women's team remains in doubt. They cannot truly represent their country as they are not officially recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and cannot play against other countries. The Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Cricket Board, which is funded by the ICC, does not recognize or fund the women's team either, meaning administratively they do not exist. The women have appealed directly to the ICC for help, attempting to bypass the board. "It's been almost three years," Ms. Khan said, "we've been writing letters, sending to the ICC, asking for support, asking for funding, asking for help. Funding could support us to improve our cricket skills, to show people Afghan girls, they are in Australia, they have their rights." Tuba Khan is passionate about showing other Afghan girls that they too can play cricket.

The team says they feel ignored by the ICC, which has provided millions of dollars in funding to the Afghanistan Cricket Board, some of which was meant to go to the women's team. The ICC has not confirmed the funding amount, but in a statement to the ABC said, "We are committed to using our influence constructively to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board to grow the game and ensure that there are opportunities for both men and women to play cricket in Afghanistan." Dr. Ordway said, "There's a clear lack of leadership from the ICC. The ICC has enormous power in this space, it has enormous funds. We want to promote cricket around the world, and there are Afghan women and young girls all over the world that are desperate to play cricket."

Despite being defeated in the final over with four balls to spare, the members of the Afghan women's cricket team loved being able to play together. The Australian men's team has refused to play bilateral matches against Afghanistan in protest of the Taliban's gender policies. However, it will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan to prevent the tournament's structure from being disrupted. "We've been very focused on what we can do as a cricket board, as a country, to support, to advocate," said Nick Hockley, CEO of Cricket Australia, who organized and funded the charity match. "We want to really raise awareness, and we hope that that leadership will encourage others to join this journey."

Before their match in Melbourne, members of the Afghan women's cricket team in Canberra were training hard. While most of the team have resettled in Australia, the reality is that the Afghan women's team is spread across Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Australia is not alone in opposing the Taliban through cricket. In the UK, 160 members of parliament have written to the England and Wales Cricket Board urging the England men's team to boycott their ICC Champions Trophy match. Anti-apartheid campaigners in South Africa have also urged similar boycotts. "We want to have the opportunity to show the world that we exist," Ms. Yousofzai said, "We love cricket, and we want to show the world that we can represent our country."