As the International Cricket Council (ICC) gears up to write a new chapter in the history of the game with the inaugural Women’s Under-19 World Cup this week, the global governing body of the sport revealed that “in terms of girls playing cricket in Afghanistan, there isn't activity at the moment”.
Four days before the first edition of an age-group women’s cricket world tournament kicks off, in South Africa, ICC CEO Geoff Allardice described “the recent developments” in Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led government banned women from higher education and employment in non-governmental groups in the past three weeks alone, as “concerning”.
Allardice confirmed that women’s cricket in the country, an ICC Full Member, remains in a state of complete inactivity.
“Obviously, the recent developments in Afghanistan are concerning,” Allardice said during a virtual media interaction organised by the ICC on Tuesday (January 10, 2022) when asked what it was doing to support female players in the country.
“Our board has been considering this issue and monitoring progress over the last 12 months or so, since the change of regime there,” he said. “It is a concern that the progress is not being made in Afghanistan and it's something our board will consider in its next meeting in March.”
In November, the ICC's Afghanistan Working Group (AWG) had communicated to the governing body's board that the country’s government reiterated its pledge to "fully respect and comply" with the ICC constitution, including agreeing "in principle" to support the development of women's cricket.
Allardice, however, said women’s cricket remains at a standstill, per updates received from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). As such, the ACB is the only board to have received the Full Member status from the ICC without having an operational women's team in place, one of the criteria cricket-playing nations need to meet to obtain the cachet.
"As far as we're aware,” said Allardice, “in terms of girls playing cricket in Afghanistan, there isn't activity at the moment, from what the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is advising us."
Since the Taliban's capture of Kabul on August 15, 2021, brought the hardline movement back into power in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, concerns have grown over women’s position in that society. The clouds of uncertainty over female athletes have only gotten darker, and the introduction of contracts by the ACB for women cricketers with a view to building a team barely a year before the Taliban takeover has had no concrete follow-up since.
‘Women’s IPL will be a huge step forward’
As plans around launching an inaugural IPL-style women’s league in India in March gather steam, with the BCCI having invited bids for ownership of media rights and teams over the last fortnight, Allardice expects the competition to be a game-changer for women’s cricket globally.
“I think the establishment of women's IPL will be a huge step forward for the women's game internationally,” Allardice said about the tournament, which, as per the guidance documents for player registration accessed by this reporter, is tentatively named the ‘Women’s T20 League’.
“The recent series between India and Australia (in December in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai), and the crowds that attended that, show that there's a really strong appetite in India for elite women's cricket,” he said.
Echoing Allardice, former India bowler Snehal Pradhan, who recently joined the ICC as its Women’s Cricket Manager, said: “I think it'd be tremendous for Indian cricket, but also for all overseas players who participate in the tournament.
“We've seen already, like Geoff mentioned, (in) the (India vs Australia) series, not only did we have great crowds, we also had a great standard of cricket, which has been a good advertisement for whatever might come next.
“It’s an opportunity for so many more players to become professional or to come close to professionalism through that tournament. It will really boost the depth and the quality in not just India but all over world cricket, I think,” Pradhan added.
Cricket in ‘good position’ for LA 2028 Olympics inclusion
The success of women’s major events in the recent past, the inaugural Commonwealth Games women’s cricket competition last year included, has strengthened the ICC’s bid to earn the Olympic cachet. This was the view of Allardice, who said the governing body aims to realise this objective through cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“One of the things about Olympic competition is that you would run the men's event and you ran a women's event,” Allardice said. “And, I think cricket has already demonstrated its credentials with the scale of its Women's World Cups over the last five years or so, also running a successful women's T20 event in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July and August last year.
“I think we were very happy and the feedback was all positive for our Member countries and players around how that experience was with the Commonwealth Games. So, I think we're in a good position to be able to deliver both men's and women's events and we're putting our best foot forward for inclusion in the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.”
As far as the ICC’s commitment to expanding women’s world events goes, the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa next month, and the subsequent edition – to be held in Bangladesh next year – will have the same number of teams – 10 – as the last edition, played in Australia in 2022. But the governing body announced in July 2022 that the tournament will be expanded to accommodate two more teams in the 2026 iteration, which England will host.