Cricket Australia has postponed its T20I series against Afghanistan indefinitely, claiming no progress in the Taliban’s stance on women. The three-match series was planned to take place in the UAE in August of this year.
CA had previously cancelled the historic one-off Test against Afghanistan after the Taliban seized over, and it had also pulled out of the ODI series last year. While CA had stated that bilateral cricket between the two nations may resume if conditions improved for girls and women in the country, they have since stated that the conditions have only deteriorated.
Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq were not happy with the decision to withdraw from the ODI series last year. The two countries eventually met in a dramatic game at the World Cup in India later that year.
“Over the past 12 months CA has continued to consult with the Australian government on the situation in Afghanistan,” CA’s statement said. “The government’s advice is that conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan are getting worse. For this reason, we have maintained our previous position and will postpone the bilateral series against Afghanistan.
“CA continues its strong commitment to supporting participation by women and girls in cricket around the world and will continue to actively engage the ICC and work closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to determine what actions could be taken to support the resumption of bilateral matches in the future.”
Afghanistan is now the only full member nation with no women’s team.
