Cricket Australia to host historic exhibition match for Afghanistan Women

The exhibition matches are a way of promoting the game of cricket which also helps in bringing an audience to the game. There is a unique exhibition match that is planned at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. The match will be played between Afghanistan Women's XI, which features Afghanistan refugees who now reside in Australia. They will be up against Cricket without Borders XI. 

This will be the first time the Afghanistan Women team will reunite after the Taliban takeover. The game is to be played on Thursday morning and will be a 20-over match which will be played ahead of the Women’s Ashes Day/Night Test. A press conference was also held where Cricket Australia's Chief Executive, Nick Hockley, also talked about the match and its importance to the Afghanistan Women's team. 

“I think this is a first step, we've got colleagues from the ECB coming out for the Women's Ashes, and there are conversations happening to support from England as well as from Australia. So, I think the first piece is awareness. But I think it's going to be such an exciting day on Thursday, and my hope is that promotes lots of conversations, that this becomes an annual thing and then ultimately, that this team were able to compete on the international stage as is their want," Hockley said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. 

“I don't think any of us can comprehend what they've been through moving to a new country in such difficult circumstances, not speaking the language. I'm just inspired by their resilience, their love for the game and hopefully, this game just raises awareness, a real beacon of hope," he added.

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Players happy to represent Afghanistan

Apart from the inspiring words by Hockley, cricketer Nahida Sapan shared a few words about representing her nation in the exhibition tournament and has said that this can open doors for all Afghanistan women in any field they choose.

“It's really special for us, especially for Afghan women because this is a very historic moment for all Afghan women, we have big hopes for this match, because this match can open doors for Afghan women, for education, sport, and future. We don't want this to be our first and last match. We want to more matches. We want more support," Sapan said.