Afghan Women’s Refugee Team to Travel to England for Cricket Tour

Photo: © Martin Keep / AFP / Getty Images

The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced that Afghanistan’s women’s refugee team will travel to England this summer for a sports tour.

According to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the tour will begin on 22 June and will provide Afghan players with training opportunities and Twenty20 matches. The players will also attend the final of the 206 Women’s T20 World Cup in England.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said the tour is important culturally and in sporting terms. According to the board, following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, women in Afghanistan have been systematically excluded from sport and public life.

It is worth noting that more than 20 members of the former Afghanistan women’s national team have been living in exile in Australia since 2021, following the Taliban’s return to power and the effective ban on women’s participation in sport. The Afghanistan women’s selected team played its first competitive match in January 2025 in Melbourne and was also present in India during the 50 over World Cup late last year.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said the England tour is an opportunity for the players to continue their sporting path and reconnect with global cricket. The board added that cricket has a responsibility to support inclusion and equal opportunity in sport.

Clare Connor, Deputy Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board and Managing Director of England Women’s Cricket, said the players have continued their sporting journey in difficult circumstances after being displaced from Afghanistan. She added that hosting the team is part of the board’s support for women’s participation in sport.

Mel Jones, from the organisation It’s Game On, said the tour is an important step forward, but shows that much work remains to be done. She said the players, despite what has been taken from them, have maintained their courage and commitment to cricket and should be recognised as part of the global cricket community.

The International Cricket Council established a special working group in April last year to support displaced Afghan women players. The organisation, in cooperation with the England and Wales Cricket Board, Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has allocated a financial fund to support these players.