As reported by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Afghan government has given its preliminary approval to reinstitute women’s cricket

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Sunday that the government of Afghanistan endorses the constitution of the global body and has “in principle” given its approval to restart women’s cricket in the country.

The game of cricket in Afghanistan, particularly the women’s version of the sport, was thrown into disarray a year ago as a direct result of the dramatic shifts that occurred in the political climate as a direct result of the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

According to some stories, the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan forbade Afghan women, including the women’s cricket team in the country, to participate in competitive sports. After that, the International Cricket Council established a Working Group with the mission of analysing the state of cricket in the nation.

The Afghanistan Working Group provided the Board with an update, during which they detailed a recent meeting that took place in Doha with a representative of the Afghanistan government and the Afghanistan Cricket Board.

According to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a government official reaffirmed their commitment to fully respect and comply with the ICC constitution. This included the requirement for diversity and inclusivity, as well as the requirement that the ACB operate independently from government interference.

“The meeting was positive and respectful, and the government representative was clear in his support for the ICC constitution,” Working Group Chair Imran Khwaja said about the event. “The government representative was clear in his support for women’s cricket in Afghanistan in principle.”

“There are certainly hurdles for it to resume, but we will continue to work with the ACB to push this ahead,” she said. “[T]here is no doubt that it will be a success.”

“The Working Group will continue to report back to the ICC Board on the status of its close monitoring of the commitment that has been undertaken by the government of Afghanistan.” Full members of the ICC are required to not only have a national men’s team but also a national women’s team in addition to the men’s side.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) counts Afghanistan as one of its full members. Both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups were competed in by the men’s squad representing Afghanistan.

Lawson Naidoo, Ross McCollum (chair of Ireland), Ramiz Raja (chair of Pakistan), and Ramiz Raja are the other members of the Working Group (SA chair).

The international governing body for cricket announced on Sunday that Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Thailand, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, and Bangladesh and Nepal will each play host to ICC U19 competitions between the years 2024 and 2027.

Sri Lanka will play host to the Under 19 Men’s World Cup in 2024, while Zimbabwe and Namibia will be the countries that stage the tournament in 2026.

The Under 19 Women’s Twenty20 World Cup will be co-hosted by Malaysia and Thailand in 2025, and Bangladesh and Nepal will play host to the event in 2027. Both tournaments will be staged in Asia.

According to a statement issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC), “The hosts were selected through a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board subcommittee chaired by Martin Snedden.”

“The ICC Board of Directors accepted the recommendations of the committee, which, along with ICC management, had conducted a comprehensive review of each bid.” The qualification system for the women’s Twenty20 World Cup in 2024, which would feature 10 teams, was also approved.

There will be an automatic qualification for the event for a total of eight teams, including the top three teams from each group at the 2023 Twenty20 World Cup, the host nation of Bangladesh (if they are not in the top three of Group 1), and the next highest ranked teams on the ICC Twenty20 International Rankings on February 27, 2023.

The women’s Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifier will consist of ten teams, and this will be used to determine the final two teams.

It was also decided how teams would qualify for the men’s World Cup in 2027, which will feature a field of 14 teams, and ten of those teams will qualify automatically.

South Africa and Zimbabwe will serve as hosts for the ODI tournament, and the other eight highest-ranked teams in the ODI rankings will join them on the field at a date that has not yet been determined.