"Women's Cricket In Afghanistan A Concern"- ICC CEO Geoff Allardice

Updated - 11 Jan 2023, 09:38 PM

Afghanistan Women's Cricket Team
Afghanistan Women's Cricket Team. Pic Credits: Twitter

The ICC Women’s U-19 & Women’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in South Africa. This is the first time that ICC is organizing a U-19 tournament for Women. Afghanistan is the only nation that is not taking part in both tournaments since women have been barred to play cricket.

Many cricketers like Rashid Khan have raised their voices but in the last year there has been no improvement. Cricket Australia (CA) refused to host Afghanistan’s Men Cricket team where the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said that they couldn’t send the women’s cricket team for the tour.

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Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan (Image Credits: Twitter)

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice on Afghanistan

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice was having a virtual press conference and was asked about Afghanistan Cricket. “Obviously, the recent developments [banning higher education for girls] in Afghanistan are concerning. Our board has been monitoring progress since the change of regime. It is a concern that progress is not being made in Afghanistan and it’s something our board will consider at its next meeting in March. As far as we are aware, there isn’t activity at the moment.” said Geoff Allardice.

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The International Cricket Council ICC HQ
International Cricket Council (Photo: Twitter)

Former ACB Director on Issue

Former ACB Director Asad Ullah was having an interaction with ESPNcricinfo and was asked about Afghanistan. “Women’s cricket in Afghanistan has always been a burning issue and I don’t see there is a solution right now. There will be a cultural challenge and we hardly have a pool of players in the country. In fact, there has never been a women’s team even before the Taliban came into power. There were a handful of girls playing cricket within their home as a recreational activity. It never made it onto the field because there was no real intent or platform.”  said Asad Ullah.

Afghanistan Cricket Board
Afghanistan Cricket Board. Pic Credits: Twitter.

“There hasn’t been any interest at all. Definitely they can play, if they want to, but in Afghanistan, it was not an option for girls. There is a big number of girls who left the country thinking that they won’t have the freedom to play sports. But are they playing sports in Australia or elsewhere? I don’t think so. They left for a better future which is their right but cricket among girls in Afghanistan hasn’t been popular anyway and it hasn’t been encouraged either.” he added.

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