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England’s Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan will go ahead as scheduled, England and Wales Cricket Board chair Richard Thompson has confirmed.
A cross-party group of more than 160 MPs and peers had signed a letter urging the ECB to boycott the game on February 26 as a moral objection to the Taliban regime’s ongoing assault on women’s rights in the country.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould subsequently wrote to the International Cricket Council condemning the “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, where female participation in sport has been effectively outlawed since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
However, Gould rejected the idea of the ECB making a unilateral decision to withdraw from their second group game of the eight-team Champions Trophy, calling for collective action from the ICC.
England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler had said the game should be played, stressing “as a player, you don’t want political situations to affect sport”.
Following a meeting of the ECB board on Thursday, Thompson confirmed while condemning the “appalling oppression” of women and girls by the Taliban, a “co-ordinated international response by the cricketing community” was the “appropriate way forward” rather than England opting not to play.
“The board recognises there are different views and opinions on the issue of boycotting the match and has listened carefully,” Thompson said.
“We have been in close contact with the Government, the International Cricket Council, our England men’s players and other stakeholders to discuss this matter, as well as considering how best the ECB can support those women cricketers who have fled Afghanistan.
“Following this, we remain of the view that a co-ordinated international response by the cricketing community is the appropriate way forward, and will achieve more than any unilateral action by the ECB in boycotting this match.
“We have also heard that for many ordinary Afghans, watching their cricket team is one of the few remaining sources of enjoyment. As such, we can confirm that we will play this fixture.”
Last month, Marylebone Cricket Club launched a global refugee cricket fund, which will back the Australian-led Pitch Our Future programme to assist Afghanistan’s women in finding training opportunities, education and pathways.
The ECB has donated £100,000 to the fund, which aims to raise an initial £1million to support the initiatives.
Thompson added: “We will continue to press the ICC to take further action, including ringfencing a meaningful portion of funding to support female players from Afghanistan to be able to access cricket and considering recognising an Afghanistan Women’s Refugee Team, as well as supporting and developing displaced Afghan women to thrive in non-playing roles such as coaches and administrators.
“The cricketing community cannot tackle all of Afghanistan’s problems, but we urge our international partners to stand together and demonstrate through our actions that we support the women and girls of Afghanistan, including those cricketers now in exile who just want to play and should be allowed to play the sport they love.”
PA
