Press conference, Melbourne

Nick Hockley, CEO Cricket Australia: Firstly, thank you so much everyone for coming down this morning. We really appreciate it. It's great to be here with Firoza, with Nahida, ahead of Thursday's match between the Afghanistan Women's XI and Cricket Without Borders. I know the players, talking to them, are just extremely excited, and I'm just so proud of everyone across Australian cricket who's worked to support the players since they've been in Australia, and that's at a club level, state and territory level, right across the community. So many people have supported and been part of this match. A couple of thank yous to Ken Jacob and Clare Cannon from Cricket Without Borders. Thank you for providing fantastic opposition and your support for this fixture. To Minister Tim Watts, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Government for their incredible support over the journey. And I encourage everybody to come down to Junction Oval. It’s going to be a huge day on Thursday. The match between Cricket XI and Cricket Without Borders, followed by the first ever Day/Night test, Women’s Ashes Test, at the MCG, so thank you to everyone for coming down for all your support, and I will pass to Ken Jacobs from Cricket Without Borders.

Ken Jacobs, Director, Cricket Without Borders: Thank you very much, Nick. On behalf of Clare Cannon, our founder, Cricket Without Borders is delighted to accept an invitation provided by Cricket Australia to participate in this special match. We have gun women from all over Victoria and some from Canberra coming to play the game with Cricket Without Borders. This will be our eleventh season since we’ve begun our operations. I want to express my congratulations and I’m sure it’ll be a great day. Thank you very much.

Tim Watts, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs: It's a great pleasure to be here. In fact, it's an honour to be here with Cricket Australia, Cricket Without Borders and importantly with Nahida and Firoza from the Afghan women's cricket team. The Afghan women's cricket team is a powerful symbol of courage and resilience in the face of extraordinary adversity. We're really proud as a nation to be able to host them here today. I'm really proud of the way that they've been embraced, not just by Cricket Australia, Cricket Without Borders, but local cricket clubs, and the cricketing community in Australia. We know that in Afghanistan, the Taliban has shown its contempt for the fundamental freedoms and the human rights of women and girls. It’s done this through a sustained, systematic campaign to oppress the rights of women and girls, including denying girls basic rights, including the right to education and attempting to erase women from public life, including on the world’s sporting fields. I'm really pleased these women have a chance to play the game that they love here. From the Australian Government's perspective, we will not allow the current situation in Afghanistan to become the new normal. We’ll continue to speak out in favour of the human rights of women and girls. We've committed $174 million in humanitarian development assistance for the people of Afghanistan since we came into government, and we've led important statements in favour of the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, at the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Human Rights Committee, and importantly, an unprecedented step by leading an international effort to hold Afghanistan to account for its violations of international law and failure to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Fundamental to the Australian Government's approach has always been elevating the voices of Afghan women in Australia, and that's why I'm here today, and it's a great pleasure to be able to support this week’s important exhibition game.

Unknown: So, we’ve got some exciting news. Nahida has just been appointed the Captain of the team for Thursday’s game, so congratulations. And any questions for the Afghanistan women?

Journalist: Can you just clarify who you normally play for?

Firoza Amiri, Afghan Women’s XI player: Yes, I play for Dandenong Cricket Club in the Victorian Premier League.

Nahida Sapan, Afghan Women’s XI Captain: I play for Carnegie Cricket Club.

Journalist: Firoza, I know it’s been a long time since you guys have all been together – some in Melbourne, some in Canberra. What does it mean to have the Afghan women’s cricket team all back together?

Firoza Amiri: So, first of all, I would like to thank the Australian Government and Cricket Australia that they made this match happen for us. So, we are extremely happy, and we are all feeling very proud and very happy as we're going to step into the field on 30th of January. We are going to represent millions of Afghan women that are in Afghanistan and denied their rights, and also it's very special for all of us to get back together as after three years leaving everything and losing everything back home in Afghanistan and coming together again. I mean, it's going to be really exciting for all of us to play together.

Nahida Sapan: For sure, I also want to express my deepest gratitude for everyone who’s supported us. Your support means the world to us. Together, we’re building not just a team, we’re building a movement for change and promise. So it’s very special, I want to say (sic) thanks to the Australian Government, all the respected people like Mel Jones, Emma, and Miss Catherine, Miss Olivia, and all of these respected people. And this is everything for us and thank you so much for all people who support us here.

Journalist: Can you tell us how you’ve been training for this game?

Nahida Sapan: Yes, sure. I understand we’ve had a lot of changes, but the most important thing is for us is to step on in this path and we are sure to do our best to show our best cricket. I know this is not very easy, but when people support us and when the ICC supports us, and when the cricket community supports us, we do everything.

Journalist: Is this the first time you’ll be meeting the Canberra-based group after coming to Australia?

Firoza Amiri: Yes, so after we came to Australia, we’ve been to Canberra before, but in that time half of the team was still in Afghanistan, so it's the first time after three years that we see the Canberra girls as a team.

Journalist: Do you think this game can send a message back home to your government over there that you’ll still keep playing?

Nahida Sapan: Yes, it's really special for us, especially for Afghan women, because this is a very historic moment for all Afghan women. We can all – when we play on this ground – we play for Afghanistan. We have big hopes for this match because this match can open doors for Afghan women, for education, sport and in the future.

Journalist: Are you hoping to play more games? Is there anything in the pipeline?

Nahida Sapan: Sure, why not? But when the ICC and people support us, we want to (play) more games. And also this will be our first and last match. But when ICC and people support us, we want more games, and also we don't (sic) want this to be our first and last match. We want to (play) more matches and we want more support.

Journalist: What are you most looking forward to during the game, Firoza?

Firoza Amiri: Well, it’s going to be – well as I said we never played before together as a team – but it’s going to be our first match. We’re looking for a win this match. That’s what we want.

Journalist: Firoza, there are a couple of players on the opposition side that play at the same club as you, so how does that feel?

Firoza Amiri: I don’t know, we always see our teammates in there. It’s good to do some challenges as well, it’s going to be a very friendly competition, I reckon. It’s going to be good.