The boss of Cricket Tasmania has confirmed the scheduled Test match between Australia and Afghanistan will be “postponed indefinitely” later this week.
The two sides were due to meet in the historic first ever Test between the nations in Hobart in late November.
Those plans were thrown into chaos earlier this month, with the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
Cricket Australia said it would not allow the match to go ahead unless the Taliban softens its stance on women playing the game.
Cricket Tasmania boss Dominic Baker confirmed to Triple M that the match won’t go ahead as scheduled, but suggested it won’t be cancelled altogether.
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“It’ll be formally postponed indefinitely this week. That will come out in the next couple of days,” Baker said.
“It’s about giving the Afghanistan government some direction around what they have to do to get back into sport.
“It’s not acceptable that they don’t allow female sport. If they want to play competitive male sport, particularly in the cricket sphere, they have to rethink what they do with female sport.”
Cricket Australia’s statement earlier this month left little hope of the match going ahead.
“Driving the growth of women’s cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia. Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level,” it said.
“If recent media reports that women’s cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart.”
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