Government remains behind ECB’s decision to fulfil Afghanistan fixture

The government has reiterated its support for England’s decision to fulfil this month’s Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan, claiming a boycott would be “counterproductive”.

England’s men are due to face Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26 but there have been calls for the England and Wales Cricket Board to sit the match out in protest at the assault on women’s rights under the Taliban regime, including a cross-party petition signed by more than 160 politicians.

All female sport has effectively been outlawed in the country, directly contravening the International Cricket Council’s membership rules, leaving the majority of Afghanistan’s women’s team living in exile.

The ECB has publicly stated its intention to press ahead with the game, while lobbying international partners behind the scenes for a co-ordinated response. Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, has backed its stance.

Responding to a letter from the CMS parliamentary committee, Nandy said the situation in Afghanistan was “appalling” and “totally unacceptable” but concurred with the ECB’s conclusion.

“While we appreciate that boycotts can be a powerful symbolic tool and recognise the importance of focusing on human rights issues in sport, we believe sport boycotts to be counter-productive as they penalise our hard-working athletes,” she wrote.

“They are not the people we should be penalising for the Taliban’s appalling actions against women and girls. As a Government there are other steps we can take, such as ensuring no ministerial or official attendance at specific sporting events. We are considering the full range of levers at our disposal.

“In addition, both my officials and I have discussed this issue directly with the England and Wales Cricket Board and welcome their strong representations to the ICC.”

Nandy echoed a previous intervention by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer by urging the game’s global governing body to take the matter in hand.

“It is clear to me that the ICC should do more to support the Afghanistan women’s cricket team and to provide an explanation as to why they are not adhering to their own membership rules,” she said.

“We will continue to watch closely to see the ICC’s response and justification for their approach. We hope they will do their utmost to restore the women’s team to full competition as soon as possible.”

Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the CMS committee, said: “There must come a point at which our government joins with other democracies that stand up for the rights of women and girls, and say to the ICC and other sporting bodies, ‘You either obey your own rules on gender equality and let Afghan women play, or you obey the Taliban’.”

The ECB has donated £100,000 to Marylebone Cricket Club’s newly launched global refugee fund – set up to support displaced cricketers – while the Cricket Without Borders charity recently hosted an Afghanistan Women’s XI in Melbourne for their first competitive match since the Taliban assumed power.