On July 3, Cricket Australia once again confirmed their position regarding cricket matches with Afghanistan. They are still not planning any one-on-one cricket games with Afghanistan due to the Taliban government’s unfair treatment of women’s rights in the past few years.
The Australian cricket team has canceled their planned matches with Afghanistan several times over the past few years, but they still compete against them in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments. In a recent ICC T20 World Cup 2024 match, Australia lost to Afghanistan by 27 runs, which led to calls for more regular matches between the two countries.
Usman Khawaja, a well-known Australian cricketer, criticized Cricket Australia for being inconsistent, especially after Australia didn’t make it to the semi-finals of the recent World Cup. However, Nick Hockley, the head of Cricket Australia, said there are no plans for regular matches with Afghanistan, even though they have frequent discussions with the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
“Afghanistan had an amazing tournament with outstanding players who played with a lot of enthusiasm and heart,” said CA CEO Hockley. “We’ve talked a lot with important people, like the Australian government, and decided to delay our last few matches with the Afghanistan Cricket Board because of concerns about human rights.”
Hockley also mentioned that Cricket Australia is looking for improvements from the Afghanistan Cricket Board so they can play each other again in the future.
“We keep in touch with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and talk often, and we want to see cricket grow all over the world for both boys and girls,” Hockley said. “We hope to see some progress and keep talking and staying in touch with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, with the goal of playing against them again sometime in the future.”
Australia and Afghanistan have played six limited-overs matches (four one-day games and two Twenty20 games) on neutral grounds, but they have not played a Test match against each other yet.
