The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed on Thursday that the Afghanistan ladies’s refugee staff will tour England subsequent month. This historic go to begins on June 22, and marks a serious milestone for gamers who fled their nation in 2021. The squad consists of cricketers who beforehand held contracts with the Afghanistan Cricket Board earlier than the Taliban banned ladies from sports activities.
ECB to host Afghan Refugee Ladies’s Group for ground-breaking tour ⬇️https://t.co/75a0IL6JvJ
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) Might 21, 2026
Throughout the tour, the staff will play a number of Twenty20 (T20) matches and take part in high-performance coaching classes. Moreover, these gamers will attend the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup last at Lord’s Cricket Floor on July 5 as particular company.
Historic Landmark Go to Confirmed for June
The upcoming tour serves as an essential platform for these athletes to rebuild their skilled careers. For the reason that Taliban’s return to energy 5 years in the past, feminine athletes in Afghanistan have confronted systematic exclusion from public life. Consequently, many of the nationwide ladies’s facet resettled as refugees in Australia, primarily in Melbourne and Canberra.
The ECB is organizing this program in shut partnership with the Marylebone Cricket Membership (MCC) and the MCC Basis. Moreover, a sports activities consultancy agency referred to as “It’s Recreation On,” co-founded by former Australian cricketer Mel Jones, helped construct the itinerary.
Constructive Information for Exiled Cricketers After Taliban Ban
For the reason that gamers fled Kabul in 2021, Australian cricketer Mel Jones performed an essential function in serving to lots of the squad to security. The gamers have proven outstanding resilience in persevering with their coaching in exile.
Nonetheless, the staff nonetheless lacks official recognition from the Worldwide Cricket Council. Beneath present ICC guidelines, full members will need to have each a males’s and a ladies’s nationwide staff. Whereas the Afghanistan males’s staff continues to play in international tournaments, the ladies’s staff was successfully disbanded by the ACB. So, this tour is an enormous cultural and sporting occasion, which highlights the necessity for inclusion in cricket.
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The Flight from Kabul and New Life in Australia
Nearly all of the squad has been enjoying in Australian home competitions for the previous couple of years. In early 2025 they shaped a staff referred to as the “Afghan Ladies’s XI” after their letters to the ICC went unanswered. Over in Australia, they will reap the benefits of coaching services and academic alternatives by applications like Pitch Our Future.
Unique: the Afghanistan Refugee Ladies’s Group will tour England, hosted by the ECB from 22 June for a collection of high-level T20 matches.
The gamers will even attend the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup Remaining.
Right here’s Clare Connor (ECB deputy CEO) with us on why that is essential. pic.twitter.com/1ZOI8MIv4i
— The Remaining Phrase (@Final_Word_Pod) Might 21, 2026
The deputy CEO of ECB, Clare Connor, defined the significance of this tour in an unique interview. In the meantime, the MCC has launched a International Refugee Cricket Fund for assist. The fund is trying to elevate an preliminary £1million to help displaced cricketers. The ECB and different worldwide boards have completed their bit to make sure the game stays a drive for good.
Tour Schedule and World Cup Remaining Look
From June 22, the gamers will play T20 matches in opposition to numerous English sides. These video games will give the staff the possibility to point out their potential on the worldwide stage for the primary time in years.
A serious spotlight of the journey is the invitation to attend the Ladies’s T20 World Cup last. The gamers will probably be company at Lord’s, the house of cricket, on July 5. This look is symbolic, because it locations the exiled staff on the coronary heart of the worldwide cricket group throughout its greatest occasion.
The International Combat for Recognition
The exiled gamers will not be simply enjoying for themselves; they’re enjoying for the tens of millions of women in Afghanistan who can’t play sports activities. Firooza Amiri has repeatedly said that the staff nonetheless exists and deserves to signify its nation. Equally, organisations like Human Rights Watch have referred to as on the ICC to help the ladies’s staff in exile.
🗣️ “We all know that we belong”
Firooza Amiri joined us on The Scoop to speak in regards to the struggle for Afghanistan’s feminine cricketers 🇦🇫
Watch 👉 https://t.co/JcT5tu3Zqe pic.twitter.com/UkkIBLbWsj
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) Might 21, 2026
In a latest interview with The Scoop, Firooza Amiri, one in all Afghanistan’s first contracted ladies’s cricketers, talked in regards to the struggle for Afghanistan’s feminine cricketers, saying that they belong.
In April 2026, FIFA modified its guidelines to permit the Afghanistan ladies’s nationwide soccer staff to compete in worldwide matches once more. The cricketers hope that the ICC will observe this instance. Whereas the ICC has shaped a activity drive to assist, the gamers are nonetheless ready for full official standing as a nationwide squad.
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