Afghanistan’s female cricketers in exile in Australia have petitioned the game’s powerbrokers to fund the formation of a team outside the control of the Taliban regime.

Rather than calling for the men’s team to be banned from playing – Cricket Australia currently refuses to play Afghanistan outside of World Cups – the players have written to International Cricket Council chair Greg Barclay to request financial support to be able to take the field.

The men’s team, led by Rashid Khan, defeated Australia at the just-completed Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies to make the semi-finals of a global event for the time.

“A profound sadness remains that we, as women, cannot represent our country like the male cricketers,” the women wrote. “We are asking the ICC to assist us in setting up a refugee team in Australia. It could be administered by the East Asian Cricket office based at Cricket Australia.

“Through this team we aim to represent all Afghan women who dream of playing cricket but are unable to in Afghanistan.

“Like the Afghanistan men’s team are afforded, we aim to compete at the highest levels. We want to recruit and train girls and women who love cricket, to show the world the talent of Afghan women and to demonstrate the great victories they can achieve if given a chance through the leadership and financial support of the ICC.”

The ICC and Cricket Australia were contacted for comment.

After the Taliban takeover in 2021, 22 of Afghanistan’s 25 female contracted cricketers fled to Australia and have been playing club cricket locally ever since, coached by Diana Barakzai, who founded the women’s program in Afghanistan.