Curbs on women
\n MELBOURNE
\nAustralia\u2019s men\u2019s team has withdrawn from their One-Day International (ODI) series against Afghanistan in March following further restrictions on women\u2019s and girls\u2019 rights imposed by the Taliban, Cricket Australia (CA) said.
\nAustralia and Afghanistan were scheduled to play three ODIs in the United Arab Emirates but CA scrapped the series after \u201cextensive consultation\u201d with stakeholders, including the Australian government.
\n\u201cThis decision follows the recent announcement by the Taliban of further restrictions on women\u2019s and girls\u2019 education and employment opportunities and their ability to access parks and gyms,\u201d CA said in a statement on Thursday.
\n\u201cCA is committed to supporting growing the game for women and men around the world, including in Afghanistan, and will continue to engage with the Afghanistan Cricket Board in anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls in the country.
\n\u201cWe thank the Australian government for its support on this matter.\u201d
\nThe series formed part of the International Cricket Council\u2019s (ICC) Super League, where the top eight teams automatically qualify for the 2023 World Cup. Australia have already qualified for the tournament.
\nAustralia were scheduled to play a Test match against Afghanistan in November 2021 but the fixture was postponed after the Taliban seized power in August of that year.
\nAfghanistan remain the only ICC full-member nation without a women\u2019s team. They have continued to appear at ICC events since the Taliban takeover, however, and faced Australia during last year\u2019s Twenty20 World Cup.
\nICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice has said Afghanistan\u2019s lack of commitment to women\u2019s cricket is a concern for the sport\u2019s global governing body and that the matter will be discussed at its next board meeting.
\n\u201cOur board has been monitoring progress since the change of regime,\u201d Allardice said. \u201cIt is a concern that progress is not being made in Afghanistan and it\u2019s something our board will consider at its next meeting in March. As far as we are aware, there isn\u2019t activity at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Curbs on women MELBOURNE Australia\u2019s men\u2019s team has withdrawn from their One-Day International (ODI) series against Afghanistan in March following further restrictions on women\u2019s and girls\u2019 rights imposed by the Taliban, Cricket Australia (CA) said. Australia and Afghanistan were scheduled to play three ODIs in the United Arab Emirates but CA scrapped the series after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-307044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n