Australia slammed for Afghanistan cricket snub over ‘rights for women’ | Cricket News

Cricket Australia says it has postponed the lads’s bilateral T20 sequence as ‘circumstances for ladies and women in Afghanistan are getting worse’.

Cricket Australia (CA) has been slammed after it postponed a bilateral males’s T20 cricket sequence towards Afghanistan citing “deteriorating human rights for ladies and women within the nation underneath Taliban rule”.

Australia has beforehand cancelled a one-off Check match and a one-day worldwide (ODI) sequence towards Afghanistan for a similar cause, however had then stated it saved “the door ajar for future bilateral sequence on the proviso of improved circumstances for ladies and women within the nation”.

CA stated on Tuesday that it made its newest resolution to name off the scheduled sequence for August upon receiving recommendation from the Australian authorities that “circumstances for ladies and women in Afghanistan are getting worse”.

“Because of this, we’ve maintained our earlier place,” cricket’s governing physique within the nation stated in its assertion.

Afghanistan had been anticipated to host Australia in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, their de facto residence floor, for the three-match sequence in August.

The Taliban have termed the choice hypocritical because the Australian cricket crew performed Afghanistan throughout final yr’s 50-over ICC Cricket World Cup in India and Afghan gamers have been a part of the Large Bash League, an Australian franchise-based T20 match.

An replace to our Aussie males’s crew schedule ⬇️

CA will proceed its dedication to the participation of ladies and women cricket world wide and can work carefully with the ICC and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to renew bilateral matches sooner or later. pic.twitter.com/OIO5PLjle5

— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) March 19, 2024

“They [Australia] don’t thoughts taking part in [against] us when it’s of their favour, once they don’t have a selection or when it really works for them and it exhibits their hypocrisy,” Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s spokesman in Doha, advised Al Jazeera.

“Once they ask our [Afghan] gamers to be a part of their league, they immediately overlook about girls’s rights however when it’s of their curiosity to disregard us they speak about girls.”

Shaheen stated that Australia and CA had been “attempting to impose their very own tradition and values by means of sports activities”.

The Afghan girls’s cricket crew has not participated in worldwide tournaments because the Taliban regime took over in August 2021. Two months later, an Afghan cricket official advised Al Jazeera that the Taliban have “no downside with girls participating in sport”.

At current, Afghanistan is the one full-member nation of the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) with out a girls’s crew.

Nonetheless, a number of members of the Afghan girls’s crew fled the nation and have been residing in exile in Canada and Australia.

Shaheen stated the Taliban regime needs to resolve points in response to its personal values.

“This isn’t about whether or not girls can play cricket or not – it’s a political resolution which has been imposed on sportsmen,” he added.

The row overshadowed their encounter through the World Cup and Afghan quick bowler Naveen-ul-Haq took to social media to name out Australia for cancelling the bilateral sequence.

“Refusing to play the bilateral sequence, now it will likely be attention-grabbing to see cricket Australia stand within the World Cup #requirements #human rights or 2 factors,” Naveen wrote on Instagram.

In an interview with Al Jazeera forward of the conflict, Afghanistan’s English coach Jonathan Trott selected to not touch upon the matter however stated his crew revered “each opposition and the sport of cricket”.

“It’s our job to be good ambassadors for the sport and for the nation. And our gamers actually carry quite a lot of smiles to lots of people in Afghanistan and world wide.”

Cricket followers and specialists additionally lamented CA’s resolution on social media.

“Humorous how the scenario for ladies and women in Afghanistan deteriorates at any time when Australia are about to play them in bilateral cricket, however then improves at any time when they must play them in a World Cup,” cricket author Ben Gardner stated in a submit on X.

Humorous how the scenario for ladies and women in Afghanistan deteriorates at any time when Australia are about to play them in bilateral cricket, however then improves at any time when they must play them in a World Cup. Both that or it is a boycott missing any type of ethical fibre in any respect

— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) March 19, 2024

The 2 international locations have been drawn in numerous teams within the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup that will probably be performed in america and the Caribbean in June. Nonetheless, they might come head to head ought to they proceed to the Tremendous Eight stage of the match.