A team of Afghanistan women will play a cricket match in Melbourne, ahead of the Women's Ashes Test at the MCG in January.

A team of Afghanistan women, who left their country and moved to Australia, will play a Cricket Without Borders XI ahead of the opening day of the women's MCG Ashes Test, set to be played under floodlights.

The team will include players who left Afghanistan in 2021 when the Taliban took over, and have been looking to play organised cricket since.

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said: “Many people across cricket and the community have come together to provide support for members of the Afghanistan women’s team since their relocation to Australia and this match will be a celebration of that work.

“I’m delighted that their ambition to play together will be achieved in this exhibition match which will be a wonderful addition to the many events around the Day/Night Women’s Ashes Test.”

Ever since the Taliban takeover in 2021, Cricket Australia has maintained a stern stance over their rights of women in Afghanistan, refusing to go ahead with a scheduled bilateral series thrice. The two teams have, however, faced each other in ICC tournaments.

In July, 17 female cricketers who had Afghanistan Cricket Board contracts in 2020 (before Taliban took over) had written to the ICC for assistance in setting up a refugee team.

The same month, Hockley had spoken on the development: "We understand that the Afghanistan women based in Australia have written to the ICC. That's a matter for the ICC to consider. We have meetings coming up in Colombo in July, and I'm sure it will be a topic of conversation. The Afghan women residing in Australia are engaged with the cricketing community, and they're receiving excellent support from across the community. But it's not something we were directly involved in."

The exhibition match will be played on January 30 at the Junction Oval.

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