England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have confirmed that the England men’s team will play the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 match against Afghanistan in Lahore on 26 February, while due to serious harassment of women’s rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule Demand for boycott is increasing. ECB President Richard Thompson accepted extensive concerns over gender discrimination in Afghanistan and emphasized the importance of coordinated international reaction rather than unilateral action.
There is increasing demand from various classes including human rights activists and policy makers to refuse to play their scheduled matches for standing against Afghanistan’s participation in the Champions Trophy from England. This concern arises from the restrictions on women’s cricket by the Taliban and comprehensive restrictions on women’s rights, which the ECB has called “gender apart”.
However, after careful deliberations, the ECB board has decided that boycott of the match would not be the most effective way to resolve the issue. Instead, the board believes that the collective international efforts of the cricket community will have more impact. Thompson said, “We believe that the coordinated international response by the cricket community is the right way to move forward and this will benefit more than the ECB’s boycott of this match.”
He further stated that for many Afghan citizens, seeing their cricket team playing is one of the remaining sources of happiness, which outlines the complexity of the situation. Confirming England’s participation in the match, the ECB confirmed its commitment to support the female Afghan cricketers displaced due to the Taliban policies.
Last week, ECB donated 100,000 pounds to the Global Refugee Cricket Fund, a joint initiative of the Marybone Cricket Club (MCC) and its charitable branch, MCC Foundation. The purpose of this fund is to help refugee cricketers worldwide, including cricketers from Afghanistan who have been forced to go into exile.
The ECB has also urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take strict action, proposed to allocate dedicated funds to support Afghan women cricketers in exile. To recognize the Afghanistan women refugee team so that the displaced players can continue to compete internationally and create ways to play coaching, administrative and non-game roles for Afghan women.
Thompson admitted, “The cricket community cannot deal with all the problems of Afghanistan, but we urge our international partners to stand together and show it through our actions that we support the women and girls of Afghanistan We do.”
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) were called to England to boycott their match against Afghanistan in early January after submitting a cross-party letter signed by around 200 UK politicians. The letter urged England to refuse to play against the Taliban rule against the suppression of women’s rights.
Labor MP Tonia Antoniazi emphasized that England players should use their influence to change. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Kir Starmer said that the government is talking with international partners on the matter. However, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandi later opposed the boycott, arguing that such action is “unfavorable” and the match should continue.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) also rejected the request of a Member of the British Parliament to a South African men’s team to boycott the match against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy. The CSA said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is to decide to ban Afghanistan.
(Tagstotranslate) England (T) Afghanistan (T) Cricket
