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 female cricketers, who escaped to Australia after the Taliban retook control in 2021, are finding a way back into the international game. | ITV National News

Cricketer Firooza Amiri says her team will "represent millions of women in Afghanistan who are denied their rights" when the side reunites after more than three years for an exhibition game in Australia on Thursday.

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

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,