Australian Test captain Tim Paine has come up with a plan “better” than the original fixture to combat the likelihood that the Afghanistan cricket team will not travel to Australia this summer.
In recent days the Taliban have said they will not let women play cricket, meaning under ICC policy the men’s team should not be able to compete internationally either.
However, the ICC is yet to make a statement.
Cricket Australia, the Australian Cricketers' Association, and the Australian Government have all issued statements condemning the Taliban and have suggested that despite what the ICC rules, Australia will not play Afghanistan if women are unable to play in the country.
Blundstone Arena in Tasmania was scheduled to play host to a one-off Test match between Australia and Afghanistan in November this year, and Paine is “disappointed” Tasmania must miss out.
“It’s not looking good, we’re in a world of trouble, there’s no doubt about that,” he told SEN Hobart's Jack and Painey.
“But I think the reasoning around it is fair enough. There are two levels to it, there’s the cricket aspect from an ICC point of view that to play Test cricket as a nation you need to have an international women’s team.
“Secondly, from a human rights point of view, to exclude half of your population from being able to do something is not on, and we don’t want to be associated with countries that are taking opportunities off literally half of their population.
“It’s sad that that’s happening over there and people are having to live with it, and from a cricket fan’s point of view, and as a Tasmanian, having a Test match called off is very disappointing.
“We stand with Cricket Australia and the ACA at the moment … as I said it’s disappointing we probably won’t get a Test match down here (in Tasmania), but we stand beside them with where they’ve landed at the moment.”
As a proud Tasmanian, Paine has proposed an idea to play a Test match in the Apple Isle, a plan that Premier Peter Gutwein gave the tick of approval.
Australia will play five Test Matches against England over the summer, and the Australian captain believes his state might be able to pinch one.
“I have a plan … I think we can sneak the fourth Test off Sydney, get it to Bellerive Oval, and that will probably - let’s be honest - be better than the Afghanistan Test here in the first place,” he said.
“The Sydney Test is the fourth Test of the Ashes; the fifth Test is in Perth. I find it very hard to believe that the Western Australian government will let us travel from Sydney to Perth for that fifth Test.
“I’m proposing we get the New Year’s Test, the fourth Test from Sydney and then we all fly to Perth.”
Australia is due to compete in the T20 World Cup in October and November before flying home to prepare for the Ashes.