Afghan refugee women cricketers return to the game with England tour

Five years after they were forced to leave their homeland, a group of displaced Afghan women cricketers is preparing for a moment many of them feared would never come. Beginning 22 June 2026, the Afghanistan Refugee team will tour England, playing Twenty20 matches and taking part in training opportunities, in a tour announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The players will also attend the Women's T20 World Cup final at Lord's on 5 July.

Many of the squad were once contracted to the Afghanistan Cricket Board. After the Taliban's return to power, women were systematically excluded from sport and public life, and the players left the country, with most resettling in Australia. There they continued to play domestic cricket but were denied access to international competition, leaving their careers in limbo.

The tour represents the culmination of a long effort to keep these athletes in the game. The organisation "It's Game On", co-founded by former Australia international Mel Jones, played a major role in supporting the players and helping them reach safety and stability. "These players have shown extraordinary courage and commitment to the game, despite everything that has been taken from them," Jones said.

For the cricketers, the chance to wear a team shirt again, to train together and to walk into Lord's for a World Cup final carries meaning far beyond the matches themselves. The ECB described the tour as carrying significant cultural and sporting importance, framing it as part of cricket's commitment to inclusion and to protecting women's participation in sport. For a group of women who lost so much, simply returning to the field is a victory in itself.