Afghanistan women's cricket team returns to action after three years

The Afghanistan women's cricket team will be back in action on Thursday at Junction Oval in Melbourne after a three-year break.

The team will play a T20 exhibition match against the Cricket Without Borders XI just before the day-and-night Women's Ashes Test between Australia and England at the MCG.

This is the first time since the Taliban took over that the Afghan women's team has reunited as a group after leaving their country. Half of the players are based in Canberra, while the rest are refugees in Melbourne.

Before the match in Melbourne, Nahida Khan and Feroza Amiri spoke to the media and said, "This is really important for us, especially for Afghan women, as this is a historic moment for all Afghan women."

They added, "We have high hopes for this match as it could open doors for Afghan women in education, sports, and their future. We don't want this to be our first and last match; we want more matches."

The players also mentioned they were representing millions of Afghan women who are deprived of their rights in Afghanistan. "It's very special for us to come together again after three years," they said.

Currently, Australia does not play bilateral matches against Afghanistan, only facing them in ICC events. However, next month, both teams will be in the same group for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE.

Cricket Australia's CEO, Nick Hockley, described the exhibition match as the first step toward the Afghanistan Women's Team playing international cricket again and a ray of hope for the team.