Afghanistan Women's XI players say a prayer before the cricket match between Afghanistan Women's XI and Cricket Without Borders XI at Junction Oval in Melbourne on January 30, 2025. (Photo by Martin Keep / AFP)
London: Afghanistan's women cricketers will be the first beneficiaries of a new global refugee fund announced on Friday by the London-based Marylebone Cricket Club.
Hundreds of female athletes fled Afghanistan as the Taliban took over in August 2021, escaping a hardline stance that essentially banned women's sport and education.
Most of the national women's cricket side settled as refugees in Australia, where they reunited for the first time on Thursday to play a charity match in Melbourne.
The MCC campaign's initial focus will be to raise funds for Pitch Our Future, an Australian-led programme that supports players from the former Afghan women's team, providing training facilities and educational opportunities.
The fund aims to raise an initial £1 million ($1.2 million), with contributions from the England and Wales Cricket Board, corporate sponsorships, government grants and donations from other international boards.
The MCC owns Lord's cricket ground in London and is the custodian of the laws of the game.
Rob Lynch, interim chief executive and secretary of MCC, said: "The Global Refugee Cricket Fund represents a vital step forward in our mission to use cricket as a force for good."
Clare Connor, deputy chief executive of the ECB and a former England women's captain, said: "The cricket community must take action to support the brave Afghan women and to give hope that cricket can be a sport for any woman or girl."
The England men's team have faced calls to boycott their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.
But the game is set to go ahead even though the Taliban's move to effectively ban female participation puts the Afghanistan Cricket Board at odds with International Cricket Council rules.
Both the ECB and Cricket Australia have said they will not play the Afghanistan men in bilateral series but will face them in global tournaments, where a failure to take the field would likely see their teams docked competition points.
