Afghan board committed to women's game, optimistic on Hobart Test

New Delhi - The governing ICC will discuss the issue at its next board meeting in November.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is committed to promoting women’s game in the country and is optimistic their one-off Test against Australia in November will go ahead, new chairman Azizullah Fazli has told Reuters.

The ACB fears being isolated after Cricket Australia (CA) threatened to scrap a Test match against the men’s team if Afghanistan’s new Taliban government did not allow women to play the sport.

The Australian board said driving the growth of women’s cricket was “incredibly important” to it but Fazli said the CA communication was result of a “misunderstanding” which was being cleared up.

“We officially talked with them and the issue regarding the Test match will be resolved,” Fazli said.

A Cricket Australia spokesman confirmed they were in “regular dialogue with the ACB” but said that, as things stand, the board’s position on the Hobart Test had not changed from last week.

Fazli, who returned as the ACB chairman last month in the first major cricket development in the country since the Taliban took control, said he was still awaiting instructions from the government on the future of women’s cricket.

“The new government of Afghanistan is focusing on its priority programmes,” the administrator said.

“They haven’t told us anything regarding women cricket (but) we are committed to maintaining and supporting women cricket.”

When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan two decades ago, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education.

“Mohammad Nabi is a senior team player, and now he is the captain,” he added. “He knows his team members very well.”