News by “Sana Ullah”
Cricket Australia (CA) has delayed the forthcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, citing constraints on women’s rights in Afghanistan.
The decision was made by CA in coordination with the Australian Government and it will continue to maintain communication with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) with hopes of seeing improvements in conditions for women and girls in the country.
“Over the last twelve months, CA has consistently consulted with the Australian Government regarding the situation in Afghanistan. The government’s assessment indicates that conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan are deteriorating. Therefore, we have upheld our previous stance and opted to postpone the bilateral series against Afghanistan,” stated CA.
“CA remains firmly committed to promoting the participation of women and girls in cricket globally and will actively collaborate with the International Cricket Council while closely cooperating with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to explore potential measures that could facilitate the resumption of bilateral matches in the future.
“We express our gratitude to the Australian Government for its support.”
For those unaware, the three-match T20I series between Australia and Afghanistan was slated to occur in August of this year. This marks the third occasion Australia has either postponed a bilateral fixture or canceled a series with Afghanistan since the Taliban assumed control of Kabul in August 2021.
Previously, they postponed a one-off Test against the side that was scheduled to be held in Hobart in November 2021 before withdrawing from an ODI series that was supposed to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March 2023.
