On this week’s episode of Stumped, Pakistan batsman Tayyab Tahir joins Alison Mitchell, Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma to discuss his first call-up to the men’s national side, which he found out about when his name was read out on television. He impressed as a substitute in their One Day International series with New Zealand and is now gearing up for a debut stint in the Pakistan Super League with Karachi Kings. He tells us about his three years playing club cricket in England and sharing a dressing room with the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year, Babar Azam.
We also hear from the Afghanistan women’s cricketers who fled the country following the takeover of the Taliban in 2021 and have been living and playing in Australia ever since. They’ve called on the ICC to support them and have backed the Australia Cricket Board’s decision to withdraw from their ODI series with the Afghanistan men’s team.
Plus, we discuss Ashleigh Gardner’s criticism of the ACB’s decision to schedule a match on Australia Day, the public holiday which marks the arrival of the first British fleet in Sydney, 235 years ago. Gardner, who is from the indigenous Muruwari people, said it is a day of “hurt”, and that the scheduling "doesn't sit well" with her or the people she is representing.
Image: Credit - Billingham Synthonia Cricket Club