England will not boycott Afghanistan match at Champions Trophy, says ECB chair

South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie besides supported calls for a boycott.

Afghanistan had 25 contracted women players successful 2020, but astir are present surviving successful exile successful Australia pursuing the Taliban takeover of their state successful August 2021.

However, ECB seat Richard Thompson said they would play the lucifer aft discussions with the government, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the players, adding that the cricketing assemblage unsocial cannot tackle Afghanistan’s problems.

“We stay of the presumption that a co-ordinated planetary effect by the cricketing assemblage is the due mode guardant and volition execute much than immoderate unilateral enactment by the ECB successful boycotting this match,” Thompson said successful a statement.

“We person besides heard that for galore mean Afghans, watching their cricket squad is 1 of the fewer remaining sources of enjoyment. As such, we tin corroborate that we volition play this fixture.”

The Taliban accidental they respect women’s rights successful accordance with their mentation of Islamic instrumentality and section customs and that they are interior matters that should beryllium addressed locally.

Last week, Afghanistan’s exiled women cricketers were named the archetypal beneficiaries of a caller exile money started by the Marylebone Cricket Club and Thompson said the ECB had donated 100,000 pounds ($124,350).

“We volition proceed to property the ICC to instrumentality further action, including ringfencing a meaningful information of backing to enactment pistillate players from Afghanistan to beryllium capable to entree cricket,” helium added.

Thompson besides said the ICC should see recognising an Afghanistan women’s exile squad portion besides supporting and processing displaced Afghan women “to thrive successful non-playing roles” specified arsenic coaches and administrators.

“What is happening successful Afghanistan is thing abbreviated of sex apartheid,” helium said.

“At a cricketing level, erstwhile women’s and girls’ cricket is increasing rapidly astir the world, it is heartbreaking that those increasing up successful Afghanistan are denied this opportunity.”