\u201cWe have sacrificed a lot to be here today,\u201d says cricketer Firooza Amiri
\n Melbourne
\nAfghanistan\u2019s women cricketers on Thursday played their first game since fleeing the Taliban three years ago, a charity match in Australia that captain Nahida Sapan hoped would spark \u201ca movement for change\u201d.
\nHundreds of women athletes fled Afghanistan as the Taliban took over in August 2021, escaping a hardline stance that essentially banned women\u2019s sport and education.
\nMost of the national women\u2019s cricket side settled as refugees in Australia, where they reunited for the first time on Thursday to play a charity match in Melbourne.
\n\u201cTogether, we\u2019re building not just a team, we\u2019re building a movement for change and promise,\u201d Sapan said in the run-up to the game.
\n\u201cWe have big hopes for this match because this match can open doors for Afghan women, for education, sport and in the future.\u201d
\nThe Afghanistan Cricket Board made a significant stride in November 2020 when it handed 25 promising women cricketers professional contracts.
\nBut before the fledgling squad had a chance to play together, the Taliban captured capital Kabul and declared an end to women\u2019s cricket.
\n\u201cWe have sacrificed a lot to be here today,\u201d said cricketer Firooza Amiri after the match.
\n\u201cThe situation in Afghanistan is very terrible. Women don\u2019t have their rights.
\n\u201cI can live freely in Australia and live my life the way I want.
\n\u201cBut back home in Afghanistan… I can only say it is very heartbreaking and very hard to live in that situation.\u201d
\n\u2018Profound sadness\u2019
\nDiana Barakzai, who helped found Afghanistan\u2019s first women\u2019s cricket program almost 20 years ago, said Thursday\u2019s match was an \u201camazing moment\u201d.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s a big message for the world, that the world will do something for Afghan women,\u201d she told AFP.
\n\u201cEspecially for opening the school doors, opening up work for women.\u201d
\nOf the 25 women once contracted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, 22 are now settled in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Canberra.
\nSome of these players have lobbied the governing International Cricket Council in the hopes of forming a refugee team with some kind of official status.
\n\u201cA profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers,\u201d some players wrote in a joint letter last year.
\n\u201cThe creation of this team will allow all Afghan women who want to represent their country to come together under one banner.\u201d The council has so far ignored these calls.
\nThursday\u2019s game was played at Melbourne\u2019s Junction Oval, a storied ground where a young Shane Warne once plied his trade.
\nThe Afghan side played an invitational outfit representing Cricket Without Borders, a charity which aims to draw young women into the game.
\nGoverning body Cricket Australia threw its weight behind the match, pledging to \u201cadvocate\u201d for the Afghan women\u2019s side at the highest levels.
\n\u201cI\u2019m just so proud of everyone across Australian cricket who\u2019s worked to support the players since they\u2019ve been in Australia,\u201d chief executive Nick Hockley said earlier this week.
\nCiting human rights concerns, Australia has in recent years boycotted a series of non-tournament fixtures against the Afghanistan men\u2019s side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe have sacrificed a lot to be here today,\u201d says cricketer Firooza Amiri Melbourne Afghanistan\u2019s women cricketers on Thursday played their first game since fleeing the Taliban three years ago, a charity match in Australia that captain Nahida Sapan hoped would spark \u201ca movement for change\u201d. Hundreds of women athletes fled Afghanistan as the Taliban […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-458661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n