Cricket Australia (CA) says government advice is that conditions for women and girls “are getting worse”.
It is the third time Australia has declined to play Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
A one-off Test match in September 2021 and a three-match men’s one-day series in March 2023 were also cancelled.
Refuse to play against Israel and we can talk.
The issue with playing Afghanistan in cricket is pretty black and white. It could be a stance against the sexism from the country’s government in general, or against their atrocities even more broadly, the latter of which would make it equivalent to Israel. But in fact, it’s far simpler than that. We will not play their men’s team unless they also have a professional women’s cricket team. Strictly speaking, without a women’s team, they are not even eligible to be a full member of the International Cricket Council.
Do we ever play against Israel?
Israel has a cricket team?
Apparently, but at a much lower level than ours.
interesting… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_national_cricket_team
Isn’t that the same for most sport? Israel has been part of UEFA for over 30 years at this point, for example.
No I just found it telling that they get to associate with Europe while other countries in the region probably wouldn’t
I think it’s more a case of the other countries in the region not wanting to associate with Israel.
Play against Israel at what? It has probably happened at the Olympics or something, but I can’t think of any occasion where Australia and Israel have played each other at any sport. They’re on the far side of the planet, after all.
As to Cricket, my old High School could probably beat whatever cricket team Israel has. It would be the most laughable token gesture ever for Cricket Australia to announce they won’t play Israel.
And for what it’s worth, we also have played Afghanistan in tournaments.