UK Government Says England Should Play Afghanistan Cricket Match | cricket news

England’s upcoming Champions Trophy cricket match in opposition to Afghanistan ought to go forward regardless of requires a boycott over the Taliban’s remedy of ladies, in accordance with a senior British authorities minister. A bunch of greater than 160 British politicians have referred to as on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to refuse to play Afghanistan in protest on the ladies’s sports activities coverage of the Taliban. Since returning to energy in 2021 the Taliban have successfully banned feminine participation — a transfer that places the Afghanistan Cricket Board at odds with International Cricket Council (ICC) guidelines.

The ICC, nevertheless, have allowed the Afghanistan males’s workforce to proceed to compete in international competitions, with England because of face them within the one-day worldwide Champions Trophy in Lahore on February 26.

And Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy stated the match needs to be performed amid considerations a boycott would see England docked factors had been they to forfeit the sport.

“I do think it should go ahead,” Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport informed the BBC on Friday.

She added: “I’m instinctively very cautious about boycotts in sports, partly because I think they’re counterproductive.

“I feel they deny sports activities followers the chance that they love, and so they can even very a lot penalize the athletes and the sports activities individuals who work very, very laborious to achieve the highest of their sport, after which they’re denied the alternatives to compete .

“They are not the people that we want to penalize for the appealing actions of the Taliban against women and girls.”

The ECB have resisted requires a boycott, with chief government Richard Gould saying as a substitute he would “actively advocate” for collective motion by the ICC as a substitute.

That place has been backed by Downing Street, with a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging the ICC to take the lead on the difficulty.

South Africa, who’re additionally because of play Afghanistan on the Champions Trophy, have backed the ECB’s stance.

This is regardless of veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and British politician Peter Hain, who performed a key position in sparking his native South Africa’s sporting isolation throughout the Seventies, calling for a boycott.

“We are of the view that a more unified and collective approach from all ICC members will be more impactful,” stated Cricket South Africa president Rihan Richards.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)