Travis Head has agreed to give up Twenty20 franchise opportunities outside the Big Bash League and the IPL, while the Afghanistan women cricketers who take the field in Melbourne this week know their game is about more than runs and wickets.

An Afghanistan Women’s XI will play a Cricket Without Borders XI in the match at Melbourne’s Junction Oval. It will bring together 21 female players who were formerly contracted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) before the Taliban regime re-took control in August 2021.