Benafsha Hashimi didn’t want to leave Afghanistan. She grew up in the capital Kabul and was a teenager when the Taliban regained power in 2021.
“I was one of the people who never wanted to leave the country, no matter what happened,” Hashimi said. When it became clear that leaving was necessary, she had one condition: “There [was] something in my heart that said, ‘Don’t let me go without my team.’”
Hashimi is among 25 members of Afghanistan’s national women’s cricket team. It was formed in 2020, prompted by the rules of the International Cricket Council (ICC) — the sport’s global governing body — which stated that countries must have both a men’s and a women’s team. The ICC hasn’t officially recognized the team since the Taliban returned to power, but has recently pledged funding to help the team.
Hashimi said she couldn’t have lived with herself if she evacuated and something bad happened to the girls who were left behind. So, she started reaching out to people abroad to see who could help them flee, along with their families.
Seven thousand miles away, in Australia, Catherine Ordway, who researches sports integrity at the University of Canberra, saw a news story about how a group of Australian women were able to get the Afghan women’s soccer team out of Afghanistan.
“And so, I thought, righto [sic], I’m going to get the cricket team out,” Ordway said.
To tackle the enormous task ahead, she teamed up with Mel Jones, a former Australian cricketer, and Emma Staples, who used to work for Cricket Victoria, the sport’s governing body in the Australian state of Victoria.
Nearly a year full of paperwork, border crossings and countless WhatsApp messages followed. Eventually, with emergency humanitarian visas from the Australian government in hand, the pieces fell into place.
“We managed to get between 130 and 140 people out,” Ordway said, which included 19 athletes and their families.
Hashimi was able to bring 10 family members with her. She was grateful to go somewhere safe — but she was also heartbroken and scared.
“I was crying, honestly, all the way,” she said. “The culture, the language — every step is different.”
Hashimi landed in Australia’s capital city, Canberra. It was tough at first, but in the nearly four years since arriving, she’s come to like living in the country.
“I quite like [it] here,” Hashimi, now 22, said. “Because of [the] freedom and the opportunity they give women.”
Ordway is still in daily contact with the Afghan women. She said they’ve mostly settled in Canberra and Melbourne, where they’ve learned English, gotten jobs and driver’s licenses and started going to school. There have even been engagements and new babies.
As for cricket, the 19 athletes have been playing with local teams in Australia. But they still dream of playing together as Afghanistan’s official national cricket team. Neither Afghanistan’s Cricket Board — the sport’s national governing body — nor the ICC have officially recognized the women’s team. That means they haven’t received any funding, they haven’t been able to play in international games and they can’t wear Afghanistan’s flag on their uniforms.
“If I [am] going to play for a national team, I would love to have my flag and my anthem,” Hashimi said, adding that the flag would be an important reminder that she and her teammates aren’t just playing for themselves. “You play for [the] whole of Afghanistan. So, I would love to wear it.”
The team has, for years, been calling on the ICC to assist them in exile. Specifically, last summer, they asked for help setting up a refugee team based in Australia. But they say they never received a reply.
Raf Nicholson, a senior lecturer in sports journalism and a women’s cricket researcher at Bournemouth University in England, said the ICC has been breaking its own rules by not acknowledging the group as the country’s official women’s team.
“Countries are not meant to be able to be full members of the ICC if they don’t run and support a women’s cricket team,” Nicholson said, adding that the ICC has not penalized Afghanistan for breaking that rule.
In January, the Afghan women decided to play together once more on their own terms. They played a match in Melbourne as the Afghanistan Women’s XI, rather than officially as Afghanistan’s national team. The game — played against a team from the Cricket Without Borders charity organization — was the Afghan women’s first time playing together since fleeing the Taliban.
“That day was a special day,” said Hashimi, who served as vice captain. “That was the moment that we said, ‘Ok, we will cheer up, we will go further and we will try to make things happen.’”
The game drew a lot of attention to the Afghan women, and some team members believe it put pressure on the ICC to take action. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, they did.
“The ICC will set up a dedicated fund to provide direct monetary support, helping ensure the players have the resources they need to keep pursuing the game,” read an ICC press release.
“This will be backed by a strong high-performance program that includes advanced coaching, access to world-class facilities and personalized mentorship designed to help the players elevate their game.”
Ordways said she is confident the commitment is real, but is disappointed that the announcement came as a surprise to the Afghan women.
“Why would the ICC feel like they needed to consult with the people that were involved — with the Afghan women?” she asked sarcastically. “It’s entirely on brand.”
According to Ordway, neither she nor the team members have heard additional details about how or when the ICC will help. Women’s cricket researcher Nicholson agrees that the announcement is a step in the right direction, but she’s eager to hear more about what this task force can ultimately do for the athletes.
“They didn’t explain whether or not they would be able to play as an Afghanistan women’s [national] team, they didn’t explain what matches this team will play [or] whether they’ll be able to play in international competitions,” Nicholson said. “So, there are quite a lot of unanswered questions.”
The ICC did not reply to a request for an interview or comment on this story. Hashimi is hopeful the new fund and task force will allow her to play with her team soon. But she’s hesitant to celebrate before she sees the promises come to fruition.
“When [the ICC] really take[s] the action, then I will really appreciate [them],” she said. “Without that, I’m sorry. I don’t believe you guys.”
Until then, Hashimi and her teammates continue to play cricket with local teams so that they’ll be ready when the opportunity to play on a major stage comes their way.