It remains to be seen whether Australia will play bilateral cricket against Afghanistan in the future after signing a partnership agreement with global children’s charity UNICEF Australia to promote the foundation’s “Until Every Girl Can Play” campaign aimed at gender equality. gender.
According to the Future Tours Programme, Australia will host Afghanistan in a men’s Test and three T20Is in July 2026. It remains to be seen if that goes ahead.
“Certainly over the last three years, they’ve had great support from all levels of the cricket community, from club to state associations,” Hockley said at the MCG on Tuesday during the launch of the partnership with UNICEF.
“We’ve certainly looked for support behind the scenes. I’ve had the real privilege of meeting and spending some time with the players, and we’re certainly working behind the scenes on ways that we can continue to support them.”
UNICEF Australia executive director Tony Stuart was asked if CA should even take on Afghanistan’s men at world events.
“I stay out of the politics of this, because I think what has made UNICEF good at what it does is that it works with every country, 200 countries in the world, and to do that, you have to be neutral.” ” Stuart said.
“We are the children’s Red Cross, and what we encourage, wherever we are in the world, is participation. We will continue to encourage that in Afghanistan. And I must say, living in Australia, I am very happy to see so many Afghan women here in Australia and I hope that in the future they will have the opportunity in some way to participate in the game.
