UK Authorities Says England Ought to Play Afghanistan Cricket Match

England’s upcoming Champions Trophy cricket match towards Afghanistan ought to go forward regardless of requires a boycott over the Taliban’s remedy of girls, 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 girls’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 Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) guidelines.

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

And Cupboard 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 suppose it ought to go forward,” Nandy, the Secretary of State for Tradition, Media and Sport instructed the BBC on Friday.

She added: “I am instinctively very cautious about boycotts in sports activities, partly as a result of I believe they’re counterproductive.

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

“They don’t seem to be the folks that we need to penalise for the appalling actions of the Taliban towards girls and ladies.”

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 Avenue, with a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging the ICC to take the lead on the problem.

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

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

“We’re of the view {that a} extra unified and collective strategy from all ICC members shall be extra impactful,” stated Cricket South Africa president Rihan Richards.

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