The Afghanistan Women’s Cricket Team has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) for an unequivocal plan for their future after a stirring victory in England that underscored both their progress and their precarious status.
Touring as the Afghan Refugee Women’s Team because they lack official ICC recognition, the side beat an MCC Foundation XI at Worsley Cricket Ground in High Wycombe, their first win since fleeing Afghanistan five years ago, but say celebration cannot replace certainty about funding, status and long-term support.
The win was raw and emotional: players screamed and wept, and the dressing room scenes were as much about survival and solidarity as sport. “Where are we going to end up? What is the next step? We need a clear answer,” Batter Firooza Amiri told BBC Sport, capturing the core demand of a group that has set aside everything to play. All-rounder Firooza Afghan added the broader motive behind their cricketing fight: “When we play cricket, we’re not just playing for ourselves. It’s for Afghanistan, and it’s for the women and girls back in our country.”
Since leaving Afghanistan in 2021 after death threats from the Taliban, the players have been based in Australia. A joint funding programme announced in April 2025 by the ICC and the boards of England, Australia and India has allowed the squad to train in elite conditions, two cricket sessions and two strength-and-conditioning sessions weekly, and to maintain competitive fixtures. That support, however, is scheduled to end after the England tour. With no successor package in place, the team faces a real risk of losing the infrastructure that has sustained their progress.
Their relationship with the ICC has been complex. The players say they have been waiting for recognition and a duty-of-care commitment; the men’s Afghanistan side, meanwhile, retains full ICC membership despite the country failing to meet membership requirements around supporting a women’s national side.
The timing is acute: the ICC will discuss the future funding of the team at its annual conference next month, during the ongoing 10th ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales, an edition expanded to 12 teams and drawing global attention to the state of the women’s game.
The tour has been more than fixtures. The squad met King Charles on the eve of the match, an encounter players described as warm and inspiring, and will attend the Women’s T20 World Cup final at Lord’s. Clare Connor, Managing Director of England Women’s Cricket at the ECB, who helped organise the trip, framed the visit as both a cricketing opportunity and moral support: the tour was designed to provide “really good cricketing experiences” and to remind the players they are “loved and cared for.” Connor urged the cricketing community to craft a sustainable solution: “It is incumbent on the global community to work that out.”
For the players, the ask is simple and urgent: official recognition as Afghanistan’s national women’s team and committed long-term funding. They point to a recent precedent in another sport, FIFA approved the return of the Afghanistan women’s national football team to international competition and say cricket should follow. “We are fully committed to this team, and we’ve put everything else aside to play cricket. But we also need the ICC to give us a clear answer. Are they going to support us?” Amiri asked.
Their plea reaches beyond statutes and funding lines. Under the Taliban regime, women in Afghanistan are banned from education, sport and work; the team’s very existence is an act of defiance and a beacon of hope. “Every shot and every wicket is for you. We play for your voice, and we play for your freedom,” Afghan said, summing up why the question of recognition matters far beyond the boundary.
As the T20 World Cup continues to draw global attention to the women’s game, the ICC faces a test: to convert sympathy and short-term programmes into a formal, sustainable pathway for a team that has already risked everything to keep playing. The players have earned the right to an answer, clear, timely and decisive, about where they will end up.
(Quotes sourced from BBC Sport)
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