ACB to award contracts to 25 female national team cricketers

The Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) held a successful training camp over the past few weeks for 40 female cricketers in order to select a new national women’s team. 

In a statement published on ACB’s website, the board said 25 women will be selected and awarded contracts as national team members. 

The board stated that the training camp was held in accordance with “Islamic and traditional  

Afghan values” and wrapped up on Thursday. 

The training camp started on October 17 and players were put through rigorous training processes on batting, bowling and fielding and sessions were held to build their stamina, the statement read. 

“As per ICC requirements, ACB wants to have a women cricket team albeit adhering to the traditional Afghan and Islamic values. 

“ACB also intends to hold a training camp in the near future for the women’s team in one of the Islamic countries,” the statement read.

In the ICC Women’s Rankings, two of the top ten teams – Pakistan and Bangladesh – are from Muslim countries.

An Iranian women’s team was formed in 2009, and in 2010, cricketer Narges Lafooti became the first Iranian woman to travel alone to an overseas sporting event, traveling to Singapore to umpire an under-19 tournament.

In Afghanistan, women’s cricket has faced ongoing difficulties and although a national team was formed in 2010, it was effectively dormant by 2014.