Head gives up T20 gigs for Australia duty; Refugee cricketers send a message to the Taliban

In today’s briefing, your wrap of cricket news:

• Afghanistan women’s cricket captain Nahida Sapan has declared an exhibition match in Melbourne on Thursday will be used as a statement to the Taliban that women will not be denied the chance to be educated and play sport.
• Travis Head has agreed to give up Twenty20 franchise opportunities outside the Big Bash League and the IPL, heeding Cricket Australia warnings about his workload as an all-format cricketer for the national team.

Country beats club: Head gives up T20 gigs for Australia duty

Daniel Brettig
Galle: Travis Head has agreed to give up Twenty20 franchise opportunities outside the Big Bash League and the IPL, heeding Cricket Australia warnings about his workload as an all-format cricketer for the national team.

Travis Head celebrates a century at home this summer.Credit: Getty Images

After emerging as arguably the most destructive batter in world cricket, Head is now among Australia’s highest-paid players. At 31, he has conceded that he should not overstretch himself with overseas franchise gigs between internationals, the better to lengthen his time at the top.

This masthead wrote last year about Cricket Australia’s burnout concerns for Head, who played in the US-based Major League Cricket tournament in 2024, but he has now resolved to keep such outings to a minimum, also ruling out the Hundred in the UK.

“I won’t play franchise cricket other than IPL,” Head said in Galle. “Big Bash will be the third team I play for, so I won’t play anything other than that at this stage, and I think that gives me the opportunity to have that time off.

“It’s pretty hard to have those eight days off and then play MLC in a couple of months’ time or the Hundred. So I understand that and I’m very lucky to have those seven days off on this tour and Test cricket’s the most important thing at the moment for us as a group. So I want to put as much effort as I can into that.”

Currently out of contract with the Adelaide Strikers, Head took a break between Test series to be refreshed for the Sri Lanka assignment that is closely followed by the ODI Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE.

“I needed the break, I was pretty cooked and I was pretty vocal about that, but now I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’d love to be able to play Big Bash, with our schedule at the moment it’s somewhat tough with a young family but with CA and the guys above it’s been pretty clear on the plan where they want us and what I do play.

“Yes, it’s disappointing, yes, I’d love to be able to be involved [in the BBL], but I feel like putting myself in the best position to play well in the next couple of weeks is the most important thing for us and also with a young family being able to give back a bit there. But yeah, I’ll be involved in the Big Bash next year again.”

Travis Head struggled in Sri Lanka in 2022.Credit: Getty

Despite his success as an opener in the Test series in India in 2023, Head argued he was now happy to bat wherever acting captain Steve Smith and head coach Andrew McDonald wanted to put him.

The team’s batting order will likely be shared with the team at a meeting on Monday night local time, and Head said there was a possibility that it may change from first innings to second, depending on conditions.

“It’s been a topic of conversation for the last little bit in this team on whether the Australian first innings, second innings, why doesn’t the order change?” Head said. “Why can’t we be flexible? What moves? How can we be brave? That hasn’t played out as such yet. Is this the tour to do it? We’ll wait and see.

“I feel like this group’s experienced enough and got some really good players that can play in different roles and in different situations of the game, we may draw on different people.”

Last time he came to Sri Lanka in 2022, Head looked extremely uncomfortable against spin in the middle order and was consequently dropped from the team for the first Test in India the following year.

When he returned to the team it was as an opener in the absence of an injured David Warner, a role in which Head excelled. He admitted that more struggles during the latter part of that trip may have marked his card for future tours of the region.

“I did go through a bit of a transition here and in Pakistan last time,” he said. “Tried to play a bit more traditionally and that Indian series was one which could have gone one way or the other.

“I don’t play well and I probably never see a subcontinent tour again. Or I go out there and do what I’ve been doing the last couple of years and go out there a little bit more relaxed and not be worried about what the outcome might be. And go out there freely. So I’ll draw on that.”

‘This is a win for Afghan women’: Refugee cricketers send a message to the Taliban

Jon Pierik
Afghanistan women’s cricket captain Nahida Sapan has declared an exhibition match in Melbourne on Thursday will be used as a statement to the Taliban that women will not be denied the chance to be educated and play sport.

Firoza Amiri and Nahida Sapan will play for the Afghanistan XI in a match against the Cricket Without Borders XI Melbourne’s Junction Oval on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Dubbed “an Afghanistan women’s XI”, the refugee side will have its first match in three years when it faces a team assembled by Cricket Without Borders in a charity clash at the Junction Oval.

The team has not taken to the field since the players fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021. They have been based in Melbourne and Canberra, making it difficult to even train together.

The Taliban’s institutionalised system of sex and gender discrimination and oppression means since 2021 women cannot play international sport, but the men’s cricket team is free to continue playing, and will face Australia in next month’s Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan.

Sapan, speaking at the Junction Oval, said the charity match would send a message to the Taliban that women will continue to fight for equal opportunity.

“It’s really special for us, especially for Afghan women because this is a very historic moment for Afghan women. We can show, when we play on this ground, we play for Afghanistan,” Sapan said.

“This is a win for Afghan women because we have a big hope for this match – this match can open doors for Afghan women for education, sport and the future.

“Together, we are building not just a team, but a moment for change and progress. It’s very special.”

There have been attempts by various groups to reunite the Afghanistan players and allow them to play, but this has been hindered by the International Cricket Council regulations that only the Afghanistan Cricket Board can organise a team.

Sapan’s teammate, Firoza Amiri, who has also been playing suburban cricket in Australia, said the magnitude of Thursday’s match could not be underestimated.

“To get back together after three years, leaving everything, and losing everything back home in Afghanistan, to come together again, it’s going to be very exciting for all of us to play together,” Amiri said.

Sapan and Amiri speak to the media on Monday ahead of Thursday’s game.Credit: Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Tim Watts, the federal assistant minister for foreign affairs, said the Australian government would continue to “speak out in favour of the human rights of women and girls” in Afghanistan, having committed $174 million in humanitarian assistance.

“The Afghan women’s cricket team is a powerful symbol of courage and resilience in the face of extraordinary adversity,” Watts said.

“We know that in Afghanistan the Taliban has shown its contempt for the fundamental freedoms and human rights of women and girls. It’s done this through a sustained and systemic campaign to oppress the rights of women and girls, including by denying girls the basic rights to education and seeking to erase women from public life in Afghanistan, including from the world’s sporting fields.

“I am really pleased that in Australia these women have the chance to play the game that they really love. From the Australia government’s perspective, we will not allow the current situation in Afghanistan to become the new normal. We will continue to speak out.”

While Cricket Australia has said it will not play bilateral cricket against the Afghanistan men’s team, it has faced claims of hypocrisy from former ICC chair Greg Barclay over the fact it still plays them in world events, including in the world cups and next month’s Champions Trophy.

Nick Hockley explains Cricket Australia’s position on playing games against Afghanistan.Credit: Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Nick Hockley, the outgoing CA chief executive, said on Monday that Australia would not boycott their clash with Afghanistan. Likewise, England captain Jos Buttler has defended his board’s decision to also go ahead and face Afghanistan at the event in spite of calls from the England government to skip the match.

“We are duty bound under the terms of arrangements for ICC events to play all of our scheduled fixtures. Again, it goes back to what can we do that is within our control,” Hockley said.

“We have been clear and consistent. We have, obviously, played Afghanistan in other ICC events. You have to draw a line somewhere. I think we have made our stance pretty clear.”

Hockley insisted CA had taken a leadership role in defending women’s rights. He said the charity match, with plans for it to be held annually, would lead to “conversations” about women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Australia’s assistant minister for foreign affairs Tim Watts throws his support behind Thursday’s game.Credit: Getty Images for Cricket Australia

“This match shines a light on the fact that in places around the world not every woman or girl has a chance to play. We are really proud of the leadership position that Australian cricket has taken through equality in sport,” Hockley said.

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