In the same week that an Afghan Women's XI will come together for the first time to play against a Cricket Without Borders team at the Junction Oval in Australia, Moffat spoke to ESPNcricinfo about possible collective action which he says "doesn't necessarily mean boycotts," but should include both the ICC and individual boards.

"The ICC and national governing bodies run and regulate the game and their tournaments, and have a responsibility to exercise leverage to ensure that the rights of players in our sport, including Afghanistan women's players, are protected and respected," Moffat said. "That doesn't necessarily mean boycotts, there are a number of ways to exercise leverage, but to date the random and inconsistent manner of dealing with it, and of even having the conversation around the world, highlights the need for cricket's governing bodies to implement a more systematic global approach to protecting basic player rights, along with just about every other aspect of the sport."

Afghanistan, who have been a Full Member since 2017, does not have a women's team but was developing one before the Taliban takeover in 2021. In 2020, the ACB contracted 25 women's players but they never played an international. Under the Taliban regime, women have been banned from participating in sport and there have been increasing restrictions on them in all aspects of public life including education and access to healthcare.

The crackdown on women's rights has drawn criticism from several international organisations including Amnesty International and the United Nations, and though there are asset freezes on some Taliban officials, there are no sporting bans in place. Afghanistan remain members of FIFA and the ICC, to name two global bodies and sent a team of three men and three women, who were living in exile and were not recognised by the Taliban government, to last year's Paris Olympics.

Currently, Australia are the only country who have cancelled bilateral engagements against Afghanistan while England have said they will do the same. Both countries continue to play Afghanistan in ICC events, even as calls to boycott those games grow.

Cricket South Africa have actively sought out fixtures against Afghanistan and played them in an ODI series in Sharjah last September and maintain that shunning the men's team will not have a material impact on the situation facing women in Afghanistan. South Africa's stance is important because they have first-hand experience of being banned from the 1970s to 1990s and sporting isolation (along with economic sanctions) was a significant contributor to the fall of Apartheid. However, CSA is of the opinion that it will take more than a cricket boycott to force the Taliban to recognise women's rights.

While there is a need to acknowledge that the freedom to play sport is one of many that have been taken away from Afghan women and girls, there is also a desire from organisations like the WCA to underline how crucial that right is.

"Every athlete has the right to equality of opportunity which is protected in the Universal Declaration of Player Rights, underpinned by international law," Moffat said. "That means each player has the right to equality of opportunity in the pursuit of sport, free of discrimination, harassment and violence, and a player's right to pursue sport cannot be limited because of his or her gender."

It is understood that many of the Afghan men's players have family in the country and fear retribution for speaking out, especially as they have little protection. As things stand, Afghanistan does not have a player association but some of the men's players are part of the WCA's global commercial program.

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

Toss Australia chose to bat vs Sri Lanka

Inglis, the Western Australia wicketkeeper and a noted player of spin, will replace Head at No. 5 and play as a specialist batter. He is Australia's first choice wicketkeeper in T20I and ODI cricket, having recently captained the team in both formats, and has scored 363 runs at an average of 72.6 in this season's Sheffield Shield.

With the surface expected to produce sharp turn, Murphy has been named and will form a spin-heavy attack with fellow offspinner Nathan Lyon and left-armer Matthew Kuhnemann. Murphy last played Test cricket during the 2023 Ashes series in the UK.

Kuhnemann will play his first Test match since the tour of India in early 2023 having recovered from a thumb injury suffered in a BBL match on January 16. Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc is the only pace bowler in the attack with allrounder Beau Webster able to bowl seam and spin. Boland misses out despite a 10-wicket haul in the fifth Test against India at the SCG earlier this month.

Smith will lead Australia for the two-match series with regular skipper Pat Cummins on paternity leave. He is perched on 9999 Test runs having agonisingly fallen short of the milestone at the SCG. Only Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh have achieved the feat for Australia.

The match will begin amid stifling humidity and there is the threat of showers on day one with rain having lashed Galle over the past week.

Sri Lanka have won five of their last six Test matches in Galle, while Australia have an overall record of three wins, two defeats and one draw at the venue.

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Oshada Fernando, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kamindu Mendis, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), 7 Kusal Mendis (wk), 8 Prabath Jayasuriya, 9 Nishan Peiris, 10 Jeffrey Vandersay, 11 Asitha Fernando

Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Travis Head, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Josh Inglis, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Beau Webster, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Todd Murphy, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Matthew Kuhnemann

But despite declaring herself ready to play, she could not confirm whether she was locked into the XI as the selectors are set to make the final decision on Wednesday evening.

"I'm good to go," Healy said with a smile. "The final XI hasn't quite been decided upon just yet, but I'm standing here in front of you without a moon boot, saying I'm ready to go."

Healy confirmed that the decision would be a joint one between the selectors and the medical staff as to her availability.

"I think a bit of both," Healy said. "I think the medical staff have been really supportive of not necessarily what I've wanted to do, but just the opportunity to potentially even push to play in this Test match in particular. They've been awesome. We've done everything we possibly can to get myself in a position to put my hand up and say, I'm ready to go. There's a little bit taken out of my hands in that regard and obviously we still want to do the best by the team. But I'm excited and I feel like, body wise, I'm ready to get out there and lead the side in a Test match which is cool."

Healy said she had pulled up well after running, fielding and batting at training on Tuesday and also confirmed she would not need much pain management throughout the game. She also said there were very few fears of her doing any more damage to the stress injury in her foot.

"It's been surprising to me every single day that I've done some stuff, just how well it's responded," Healy said. "I was pushed pretty hard yesterday. I think you all saw me. I was blowing a fair bit.

"Obviously we've done that on purpose to try and see what I can and can't get through and I've pulled up really well. So I'm really positive moving forward.

"There's a bit of unknown as to how the four days will pan out. But I think at the moment I'm on as little medication as possible, which I think is a huge sign. The fact that I can get through what I can without any, always means you can add more, right? But we've sought a lot of advice, a lot of specialist advice as to what it might look like moving forward, and there's no real evidence to suggest that it might go any further than what it currently is. So that's positive signs for me, and probably gave me the mental nod as well to go, yep, I think I can push to try and play. So I'm confident getting through four days, and hopefully it can do just that."

"Moons coming down the order is a bit of a shift, and we're going to have to make a decision at the top," Healy said. "I'm more than happy to bat anywhere for Australia. I think everybody knows that. So whether it's me, great, if it's not me, then obviously there's a pretty obvious candidate."

"We've got 12 at the moment, we're just deciding on the final bowler," Knight said. "Obviously, in the last Test match we went for an extra bowler because of the proximity to the Ashes. But in this Test match, we're going to play the extra batter, so Sophia Dunkley will come in from that Test match. And then we're just deciding between a seamer or a spinner for that final spot. We'll have another look at the wicket tonight."

There's no room for Cross however. Despite getting through two spells at training yesterday, she is not quite fit enough to play in the Test match.