ISLAMABAD: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that England’s scheduled match against Afghanistan in the ICC Champions Trophy at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, will go ahead as planned, despite calls for a boycott in protest against Taliban’s human rights record.
The ECB held a meeting on Thursday after nearly 200 British politicians signed a cross-party letter urging England to withdraw from the match in protest of the Taliban’s human rights record.
However, the board decided that the game, set to take place in Lahore on February 26, will proceed as scheduled.
Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, women’s participation in sports in Afghanistan has been effectively banned. Critics have described the situation as gender apartheid.
The issue has come to light following the Taliban’s assault on women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Female participation in sport has been outlawed since Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Women were banned from universities, parks and sports. The Taliban raided the homes of female athletes and many women’s cricketers fled Afghanistan for their safety.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) requires its full members, of which Afghanistan is one, to have a national women’s team, but the men’s team has retained its Test status, reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last year and qualified for the latest global tournament, the Champions Trophy.
In January, a cross-party letter, signed by nearly 200 UK politicians, was sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) calling for England to refuse to play the match.
Afghan Women Team refuge in Australia, played exhibition match on January 29, 2024
Just a few miles from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the women’s Ashes Test between Australia and England commenced, Afghan refugee cricketers played their first match as a united team since escaping Taliban rule.
The Afghanistan Women’s XI comprises athletes who fled their homeland in 2021 when the Taliban reinstated severe restrictions on women’s rights. Most of the 25 Afghan women contracted by the national cricket board in 2020 have since resettled in Australia through humanitarian visas, beginning new chapters in Melbourne and other cities.
While Afghanistan’s men’s cricket team receives support from the International Cricket Council (ICC), the women’s team remains unfunded and lacks recognition from the global body, despite their calls for assistance. Their exhibition match at Junction Oval against a team organized by Cricket Without Borders, a non-profit supporting women in cricket, was facilitated by Cricket Australia and held without official status.
Now, in response, the ECB called for unified action led by the ICC.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould wrote to the global governing body calling for more action over what he called “gender apartheid”.
He stopped short of asking for a boycott but did ask the ICC to place an “immediate condition” on Afghanistan’s full member status to provide women’s cricket by a certain date.
England have played Afghanistan twice since the Taliban takeover – both at world events run by the ICC. They have not scheduled any bilateral series, which are organised by national cricket boards, against them. As it stands this match will go ahead.
In a statement, the ECB acknowledged the severity of the issue, calling the Taliban’s repression of women and girls “horrific” and stating that the ban on women’s cricket in Afghanistan was “deeply upsetting.” However, the board argued that a coordinated response from the global cricket community would be a more effective approach than boycotting individual matches.
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“While women’s and girls’ cricket is growing rapidly worldwide, it is heartbreaking that girls in Afghanistan are being denied this opportunity,” the ECB said. “But the Taliban’s brutal suppression of women and girls extends far beyond cricket.”
The ECB also announced a £100,000 ($126,500) donation to the Global Refugee Cricket Fund to support female Afghan cricketers in exile. It added that it would continue to press the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take action, including supporting women who wish to play the sport.
ECB update on Men’s ICC Champions Trophy match against Afghanistanhttps://t.co/cmN03dgl90
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) February 6, 2025
England will also compete against Australia and South Africa in the Champions League, which begins on February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.
Afghanistan’s schedule in the Champions Trophy 2025
Feb. 21: Afghanistan vs. South Africa
Feb. 26: Afghanistan vs. England
Feb. 28: Afghanistan vs. Australia
