By Mikayla van Loon, with Reuters and AAP
In what could only be labelled a special day in women’s cricket, Mooroolbark Cricket Club’s Jess Adams had a front row seat to the historic match.
More than three years after fleeing Afghanistan as the Taliban swept to power, a women’s team of refugee cricketers played an exhibition match in Melbourne on Thursday 30 January.
Organised by Cricket Australia with support from Cricket Without Borders (CWOB), Adams was selected to play against the Afghanistan XI.
“It was pretty special to be able to be involved in something like I was (on Thursday). The match meant a lot more than just a game of cricket,” she said.
“It was awesome that we could be a part of, hopefully, the start of something pretty exciting for the Afghan women’s team and potentially other teams in similar positions across the world.”
For the Afghanistan XI, captained by Nahida Sapan, it was the first time the women have competed as a team since leaving the nation.
Fellow player Firooza Amiri said the weight of the match was not just about representing women’s sport but all women who have been deprived of rights.
“We are extremely happy and we are all feeling very proud,” Amiri told reporters on Thursday.
“As we are going to step into the field on the 30th of January, we are going to represent millions of Afghan women who are in Afghanistan and denied their rights.
“It’s very special for all of us to get back together after three years, leaving everything and losing everything back home in Afghanistan and come together again.”
Women’s sport was disbanded in the country during the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had 25 contracted women players in 2020 but most now live in Australia in exile, with others settled in Canada and Britain.
The Australia-based cricketers have been able to continue playing for local clubs.
But Adams said emotions were running high for everyone involved because of what it took to get there.
“There were definitely lots of mixed emotions across both teams, but especially their team. Some are celebrating a major milestone but also still grieving, having people still stuck back at home who they can’t see,” she said.
Despite some struggles in communicating, Adams said fortunately cricket is a “universal language”.
“Some of them didn’t have amazing English skills, but they all love and know cricket. So there’s always common ground to talk about and to share and bond over, which is something pretty special, that no matter where you go, people love cricket.”
Adams said CWOB has always been about highlighting the need for equal access to sport no “matter who you are or your abilities or where you from”.
“Our goal is to promote women and equality through sport as part of Cricket Without Borders and actually seeing that paying off and doing really, really good things is an exciting step towards where we thought things could potentially end up,” she said.
The game itself garnered the attention of figures like the Governor-General Sam Mostyn, as well as interest from quite the crowd who attended.
“There were local cricketers I’ve known throughout the years. There were ex players. Heather Knight, the English captain, actually popped down as well to watch.
“So it was pretty exciting to see how many people actually came and how special the moment was, not just for those of us that were fortunate to get on the pitch, but those who just love the game and wanted to be involved by being spectators there.”
Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley said last week he hopes the Afghan women can play more games as a team and eventually represent the country on the international stage.
