Yvette Cooper plays friendly cricket match with exiled Afghan women’s team

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper plays a game of cricket with members of the Afghan Refugee Women’s Cricket Team at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in central London. The team was set up during the Afghan Republic in 2010, but lost their recognition as a national team following the Taliban’s return to power. Most members of the women’s cricket team fled the country, and the majority are now based in Australia, where they have rebuilt their lives as refugees, and campaign for recognition. (Jordan Pettitt/PA) - (PA Wire)

Yvette Cooper has said it is an “outrage” that Afghan women are not allowed to play sport and take part in many facets of day-to-day life as she welcomed the country’s exiled cricket team to the Foreign Office in London.

The Foreign Secretary joined the Afghan women’s refugee cricket team for a friendly game in the quad of her department’s central London headquarters.