Documentary: What's does the future look like for the Afghanistan Women's Refugee team?

It was an incredibly emotional day for all those involved seeing these players on the pitch at one of the most historic and beautiful cricket venues in England.

It was also a really good game with the Afghanistan women's refugee team getting over the line in a tense chase.

While that match was going on, I spoke to Clare Connor alongside ESPN cricinfo's Valkyrie Baines on how this tour came together and the importance of the ICC's upcoming general meeting.

Clare, we're here at Wormsley on an excruciatingly hot day.

I'm very glad I'm not out playing there, but we've got the Afghanistan refugee women's team playing the MCC behind us on their first match of the UK tour.

From your role as a trustee of the MCC Foundation and also in the ECB, what's gone into putting this tour together?

Um, well it's lovely to be here with you even on a swelter- swelteringly hot day.

Um, a, a lot of work's obviously gone into pulling this tour together and lots of partnership.

Um, so I guess ECB sort of taken the overall lead as the sort of main funder of, of this sort of fortnight's tour.

Um, but we've worked closely with MCC Foundation and the MCC and others across the sort of-

of-Country, really, schools and teams to pull it together.

So, um, yeah, delighted that we've been able to and, uh, you know, in what is a massive summer for the women's game, uh, this year.

Mm.

And can you talk a little bit about what the MCC Foundation's involvement have been with the team over the last year? They've obviously put some funding into the team.

What's that been used for aside from just this tour?

Yeah, so the MCC Foundation specifically, um, helped launch and, and kind of drove the, um, I guess, the Global Refugee Cricket Fund around 18 months ago, um, around the time of the Men's Champs Trophy where this topic was sort of very live.

Um, and with the sort of first, if you like, the first recipients of that fund, the Global Refugee Cricket Fund, being the, uh, these, these...

this squad of players.

So that funding's been used over the period for lots of training back w- what they now call home.

Um, so many of them in Melbourne, Canberra, couple in Canada, one in London.

So programs, fitness programs, coaching programs, you know, facility hire, that kind of thing for them to be able to continue their cricket.

F- to also enable them to play in community cricket in their cricket clubs in those places.

Um, and yeah, I mean, there is still money left in that fund, which is great, uh, because, you know, uh, I think that sort of kickstarted everything, actually.

And then ICC, ECB, Cricket Australia, and the BCCI all made an equal contribution to kind of, uh, uh, uh, an additional fund to, uh, be able to provide the sort of experiences that have happened over the last 18 months-

Mm