Afghanistan women's cricket team will take the field in an exhibition match in Australia, but their cricketing plight remains in a stalemate.

Afghanistan's women cricketers on Thursday played their first game since fleeing the Taliban three years ago, a charity match in Australia that captain Nahida Sapan hoped would spark "a movement for change".

The first match by the Afghan women’s cricket team is placing the Taliban under additional diplomatic pressure.

Firooza Amiri says she and her fellow exiles want to keep representing their country during and beyond their match against Cricket Without Borders in Melbourne

An Afghanistan Women’s XI will play a Cricket Without Borders XI in the match at Melbourne’s Junction Oval. It will bring together 21 female players who were formerly contracted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) before the Taliban regime re-took control in August 2021.

For Afghanistan's women cricketers, their first competitive match since escaping oppression in their home country represents a significant step in their sporting journey - although the path ahead may not be the one they envisaged before.

A Twenty20 cricket contest featuring a women’s team made up of refugees from Afghanistan who now live in Australia may “only” be an exhibition game, but it could be the beginning of something much more.

Global cricket needs to move away from "random and inconsistent," outbursts of support for Afghanistan's exiled women's cricketers and towards a "systematic global approach." That's the view of the global player body,