SYDNEY – Australia defended their contentious decision to withdraw from a cricket series against Afghanistan following a Taliban crackdown on women’s “fundamental human rights” on Friday.
“Basic human rights is not politics,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said in a statement given to AFP after Afghanistan’s cricket authority slammed the cancellation as “pathetic”.
Following a tour of India, the Australian men’s team was scheduled to play three one-day internationals against their Afghan counterparts in the United Arab Emirates in March.
“It is undeniably a difficult and tragic scenario. We did not make this choice lightly “Hockley explained. Cricket Australia had hoped to play Afghanistan and had been in constant touch with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, he noted.
