Australia postpone first-ever Test match against Afghanistan

Australia on Friday postponed a first-ever cricket Test against Afghanistan, amid fears the country's ruling Taliban regime has banned 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 Afghanistan's 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 from most other public roles.

Senior Australian cricketers had indicated they would like to see the Test cancelled if the de facto ban on women's cricket remained in place.