AFP, Sydney :
Cricket Australia on Friday postponed a landmark first-ever cricket Test against Afghanistan, amid fears the country’s ruling Taliban regime will ban women from playing the sport.
Australia’s cricketing authorities said that after consultation with “relevant stakeholders” it was decided the men’s Test, to be played in Hobart this month, would not go ahead as planned.
After ousting the elected government in August, senior Taliban leaders said Afghan women would no longer play cricket, or any other sport.
Under the regime’s hardline reading of Islamic law, women are also barred from going to school and most public roles.
