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Cricket: Australia cancels test against Afghanistan's men's team

2021-11-05T08:07:40.768Z


The announcement was clear: Afghanistan's cricket team is not welcome in Australia as long as the Taliban continue to forbid women in the country to play sports.


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Afghanistan's captain Mohammad Nabi: His team is not welcome in Australia

Photo:

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP

Australia's Cricket Association has canceled a scheduled test match against the Afghan men's national team.

Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Friday.

The game planned for November 27 in Hobart has been postponed until the situation becomes clearer for women who also want to play the sport.

"The Australian Cricket Federation is committed to supporting the development of the game for women and men in Afghanistan and around the world," the statement said.

In view of the current uncertainty, CA considered it necessary to postpone the test match to a later date.

The Australian association had already announced in September that it would cancel the test if the Taliban government, which took power in the country in August, does not allow women and girls to play the sport.

The TV broadcaster SBS had previously quoted the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, as saying that he did not believe that women should play cricket because "it is not necessary for women to play cricket."

In addition, it is against the rules of Islam if players get into a situation in which their face and body are uncovered.

In the media age there will be photos and videos that are viewed: "Islam and the Islamic emirate do not allow women to play cricket or to practice sports in which they are exposed."

Announcements are not enough

The Taliban later declared that they would not repeat the harsh rule of their previous government, which banned most girls from schooling and banned women from appearing in public without a male guardian.

For Australia's Cricket Federation, this mere announcement was apparently not enough.

But they look forward to receiving both the Afghan women's and men's teams in the “not too distant future”.

The Australian government canceled a trip to Zimbabwe in 2007 because of the violent repression of political opponents by then President Robert Mugabe.

In addition, Australia did not play against South Africa from 1971 until the end of apartheid.

sak / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-11-05

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