Cricket Australia is all set to officially postpone the one-off Test Afghanistan later this week.
“We’ve made our position very clear that we support cricket as a sport for both women and men,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley as saying.
“We’ve been trying to get clarity on what the situation is. It’s obviously a difficult, complex, and challenging situation. It’s most likely we’ll postpone the Hobart Test match until such time that there is greater clarity, and we’ll be making some announcements in the coming days,” he added.
Earlier, Cricket Australia (CA) had said that the planned men’s Test match against Afghanistan in November would not go ahead if the country does not support women’s cricket following the Taliban takeover.
“Driving the growth of women’s cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia. Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level,” Cricket Australia said in its official statement.
“If recent media reports that women’s cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart,” it added.
On Sunday, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Acting CEO Geoff Allardice had said that the apex cricket body is keeping a table on change of regime in Afghanistan, however, he confirmed that Afghanistan will indeed take part in the T20 World Cup.
“Yes, when the change of regime took place in Afghanistan in August, we have been in regular contact with their cricket board, our primary involvement is to support cricket in that country through the member board, we have said all along that we are waiting to see how things unfold under the different regime in that country,” said Allardice.
“They are a full member of the ICC and their team is preparing for the T20 World Cup. In terms of their preparation for the event, it is proceeding as planned,” he added.
