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Follow UsCricket Australia (CA) has once again postponed their bilateral series against Afghanistan, the board confirmed on Tuesday (March 19). The reason for Australia postponing the series is "deteriorating human rights for women and girls in the country under Taliban rule."
The three-match T20 International (T20I) series, which was scheduled to be played in August was to be hosted by Afghanistan with the matches taking place in the UAE. The Australian government told CA "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," a CA statement read.
"CA continues its strong commitment to supporting participation by women and girls in cricket around the world and will continue to actively engage the International Cricket Council 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."
This is the third time Australia have delayed engaging Afghanistan in a bilateral series since the Taliban takeover. CA had previously cancelled the one-off Test, which was scheduled to be played in 2021 in Hobart, while they also backed-off from the from playing a One-Day International (ODI) series in March 2023.
Afghanistan are the only full-member team without a women's team and have been continuously backed by the ICC.
"We have spoken with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and their position is they have to operate within the laws of the country and the rules as set by the government, and really the question for the ICC Board is 'do we support our member in their ability to promote cricket within the rules set by the government of the country?', and the view is yes," ICC CEO Geoff Allardice told BBC.
Many Afghanistan cricketers including Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq expressed their anger When Australia cancelled the 2023 series. In fact, they also threatened to pull out of the Big Bash League (BBL).
"If playing vs Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition," Rashid posted on social media at the time.
In other news, Australia's white-ball tour of Ireland in August-September too could be postponed following recent comments from Cricket Ireland high performance director Richard Holdsworth told ESPN recently.
"What we had in the FTP as a whole... it's a real challenge to deliver all of it. We've got almost too much cricket for the amount of venues that we've got," Holdsworth said.
"Costs of putting on games in Ireland have gone up considerably since Covid. Hotel prices, putting up temporary infrastructure for grounds have gone up astronomically."
