England’s Champions Trophy match towards Afghanistan will go forward, regardless of requires a boycott.
A cross-party letter, signed by practically 200 UK politicians, was despatched to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) asking for England to refuse to play in response to the Taliban’s human rights document.
Feminine participation in sport in Afghanistan has successfully been outlawed because the Taliban returned to energy in 2021.
The matter was mentioned at an ECB board assembly on Thursday, after which the governing physique confirmed the match in Lahore on 26 February will happen as scheduled.
In an announcement, the ECB mentioned the state of affairs in Afghanistan “is nothing wanting gender apartheid”, including a co-ordinated worldwide response by the cricketing neighborhood is the suitable means ahead.
“At a cricketing degree, when girls’s and ladies’ cricket is rising quickly around the globe, it’s heartbreaking that these rising up in Afghanistan are denied this chance, however the appalling oppression of ladies and ladies by the Taliban goes a lot additional,” it learn.
It added the ECB donated £100,000 to the International Refugee Cricket Fund to assist feminine cricketers in exile, and it’ll proceed to press the ICC to take motion, together with supporting the ladies and ladies of Afghanistan who need to play cricket.
England may even play Australia and South Africa within the Champions Trophy, which takes place in Pakistan and Dubai from 19 February.
England have performed Afghanistan twice – on the 2022 T20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup – because the Taliban returned to energy in 2021.
Requires a boycott of this fixture have been led by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who mentioned England’s gamers ought to use their “energy” to “make a distinction”.
Her fellow Labour MP and Tradition Secretary Lisa Nandy mentioned the sport ought to go forward, including that boycotts have been counter-productive.
When requested final month about the potential for the gamers main a boycott, just like England’s refusal to play in Zimbabwe through the 2003 World Cup, captain Jos Buttler mentioned: “I do not suppose a boycott is the best way to go about it.”