ICC chairman welcomes Afghan female cricket team formation

International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Greg Barkley, met with Afghanistan’s cricket board (ACB) chairman and discussed the Afghan cricket situation, ACB said in a statement on Friday.

During the meeting, Barkley welcomed the formation of the Afghan female national cricket team.

Meanwhile, at the meeting ACB chairman Yusefzai called on the ICC chairman to provide equal financial assistance to Afghanistan as to other permanent members.

The ICC chairman also welcomed the recent efforts for transparency in the ACB and the progress.

Barkley added that the ICC is committed to any kind of cooperation with ACB.

The Afghan women’s cricket team, which was officially relaunched last month, is scheduled to have their first overseas training camp later this month, likely in a Gulf country.

The aim of this is to prepare them for their first international match early next year, Reuters reported.

This comes after the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) recently reformed the women’s squad, and awarded contracts to 25 players following trials at the Kabul Stadium.

While Afghanistan’s men’s cricket team has enjoyed a series of successes over the past few years, the national women’s team was quietly disbanded just a few years after it was formed in 2010, amid fears over safety.