Afghan cricket team in Australia in 2021–22

Last updated

Afghan cricket team in Australia in 2021–22
  Flag of Australia.svg Flag of Afghanistan (2013-2021).svg
  Australia Afghanistan
Dates 27 November – 1 December 2021
Test series

The Afghanistan cricket team were scheduled to tour Australia in November 2021 to play a one-off Test match. [1] It would have been the first Test match to be played between the two teams. [2] Originally the match was planned to take place in December 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] In May 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed the rescheduled dates of the match. [4] However, in September 2021, Cricket Tasmania confirmed that the match would not be taking place following the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, due to the Taliban not supporting women's cricket. [5]

Contents

Background

Originally the Test match was scheduled to take place in December 2020, [6] at the Perth Stadium. [7] On 28 May 2020, Cricket Australia confirmed that the one-off Test match would be a day/night match. [8] [9] In July 2020, Cricket Australia also confirmed they were doing everything to ensure that the match goes ahead, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. [10] [11] Originally, the Test match was scheduled to start on 21 November 2020, [12] [13] but the fixture was pushed back to 7 December 2020 due to the rescheduling of the 2020 Indian Premier League. [14] However, in September 2020, the match was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [15]

In August 2021, following the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, concerns were raised about the match taking place. [16] In September 2021, Cricket Australia admitted that they did not have answers about hosting the match, [17] but the Afghanistan Cricket Board's CEO, Hamid Shinwari, said that their team would be travelling to Australia following the 2021 Men's T20 World Cup. [18]

In September 2021, Hamid Shinwari said that the Afghanistan women's cricket team were training in an exclusive female-only centres. [19] However, the Taliban Government's deputy head of the Cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said that it was not necessary for women to play cricket. [20] The next day, following the speculations regarding women's cricket in Afghanistan, Cricket Australia announced that it might not even host the Test match, [21] if those speculations were true. [22]

In November 2021, Cricket Australia confirmed that the Test match had been postponed following the forementioned speculations, [23] but hoped to play the match in a future season. [24]

Only Test

27 November–1 December 2021
Scorecard
v
Match postponed
Bellerive Oval, Hobart

References

  1. ↑ "Australia-Afghanistan Only Test to be held in 2021". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "'Helping hand': Afghanistan optimistic historic Test will go ahead". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "Australia-Afghanistan one-off Test to be held in November 2021". CricBuzz. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "Australia's Test drought poses possible Ashes problems". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "Cricket Tasmania say Afghanistan Test will be officially called off this week". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  6. ↑ "Men's Future Tours Programme" (PDF). International Cricket Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Cricket Australia India tour 2020: Optus Stadium, Perth, overlooked". News.com.au. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Dates set for India, Afghanistan Tests". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "National team to play Test against Australia at Perth in November". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "Adelaide quarantine camp firming ahead of India Test series". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "World Cup call paves the way for summer like no other". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Adelaide to host India for pink-ball Test in December". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "Afghanistan To Play Test In Australia In 2020 Under New FTP". Tolo News. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "Afghanistan set to play December Test against Australia in Perth". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "Australia-Afghanistan Test postponed due to Covid-19 scheduling difficulties". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "Tasmania Premier has concerns over Australia-Afghanistan Test in Hobart". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  17. ↑ "Doubts grow over Afghanistan Test, Cricket Australia 'don't yet have answers'". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  18. ↑ "Afghanistan likely to host Australia and West Indies for T20I tri-series in October". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  19. ↑ "Afghanistan women's cricket in danger after Taliban's reported opposition". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  20. ↑ "ICC concern as Afghanistan's women's cricket team unlikely to be granted playing permission". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  21. ↑ "CA to cancel Afghanistan Test over Taliban stance on women". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  22. ↑ "Cricket Australia will cancel Afghanistan Test if women excluded from sport". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  23. ↑ "Cricket Australia confirms official postponement of Test match against Afghanistan". Nine Network. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  24. ↑ "Cricket Australia confirms postponement of Afghanistan Test". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 November 2021.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.