Australia’s Test versus Afghanistan is going to be postponed till it is understood what consequence the Taliban control would have on sport in the nation, Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Nick Hockley told local media.
CA warned last month to cancel the Test, which is set to begin in Hobart on November 27, if the Taliban authority, which took control in August, would not let girls and women participate in the sport.
It’s likely that we will postpone the Test until there is more clarity: Hockley
“It’s likely that we will postpone (the Test) until a point of time where there is more clarity and that’s the following consultation with the Australian government,” Hockley told.
“The work we’ve been doing is to understand the current situation on the ground. We made our position very, very clear off the back of some earlier comments around, potentially, cricket as a sport for women and girls not being supported in Afghanistan.“
Hockley further stated that he is optimistic that discussions with the Western Australian govt will be fruitful and that the 5th Ashes Test will take place in Perth as planned next January.
The team decided to go ahead with the visit hesitantly later this week after Hockley had multiple video conference sessions with English players to satisfy their concerns about too strict bio-security procedures.
Western Australia has imposed tough border restrictions to prevent COVID-19 out of the province, and if the govt complied with its regulations, the England team would be quarantined for 2 weeks after reaching Perth from the 4th Test in Sydney.
Hockley believed that the government would be willing to reduce quarantine restrictions and enable England players to compete in the Perth Test in a bio-secure bubble with some permissions.
“We would desperately like to play the fifth Test in Perth. It’s absolutely our intention to do so,” he added.
“Those discussions are going on right as we speak. That will be our focus over the next couple of months.”
The Ashes series begins on 08th December in Brisbane.
