ICC Champions Trophy: Afghanan ban unlikely over absence of women’s team despite boycott calls | Cricket News

Despite growing calls from England, including from Prime Miner Keir Starmer, and South Africa to boycott Afghanan for the Taliban’s continuous refusal to field a women’s cricket team as per International Cricket Council’s (ICC) regulations, the world body is unlikely to enforce any sanctions.The Indian Express understands that ICC, headed former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, is of the view that the Afghanan Cricket Board (ACB) is merely following the orders of the Taliban regime which has been in power since 2021 and is powerless to act on its own to revive the women’s game in the country. But horically, the world body has not come in the way of teams forfeiting matches in a global tournament due to security or any other concerns.
On Wednesday, after nearly 160 UK politicians wrote to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) urging them to boycott the group fixture against Afghanan to be played in Lahore, Starmer called on the ICC to follow its own rules, which make it mandatory for any full member that fails to field men’s and women’s teams to be suspended.
“The ICC should clearly deliver on their own rules and make sure that they’re supporting women’s cricket as the ECB do. That’s why we support the fact that the ECB are making representations to the ICC on this issue,” the British prime miner’s spokesperson said.
With just over 40 days to go for the event, which only recently settled an impasse over India’s refusal to travel to Pakan, it now finds itself engulfed in a new storm. What is making it complicated is that it’ss not just England facing calls for a boycott. According to The Guardian, veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain has also called on Cricket South Africa (CSA) to challenge the ban on women’s cricket in Afghanan.
Cricket Australia, like the ECB, has been boycotting bilateral series against Afghanan and has been pressurising ICC to suspend Afghanan Cricket Board. Australia has also given asylum to several of the women players who used to form the Afghanan team.
Incidentally, all these three teams are paired with Afghanan for the 8-team Champions Trophy and if one board chooses to boycott their fixture against the team that is making its maiden appearance in the tournament, the pressure would mount on the others to follow suit.
As with all issues in ICC corridors, for the world body to take any decision, India’s stand becomes crucial. Although the Indian government hasn’t approved the Taliban regime yet, foreign secretary Vikram Masi has met their acting foreign miner Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai. Given the bilateral equations, India, and ICC chair Jay Shah, may not support Afghanan’s suspension.
Sticky wicket
The statement from the British PM’s spokesperson comes after the ECB made it clear that it is not in favour of boycotting the fixture against Afghanan. Chief executive Richard Gould, while reiterating that England won’t play bilaterals against Afghanan, called for collective action within the ICC.
“While there has not been a consensus on further international action within the ICC, the ECB will continue to actively advocate for such measures. A coordinated, ICC-wide approach would be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions individual members,” Gould said.
The ECB was forced to swing into action after 160 politicians from across party lines belonging to the House of Commons and House of Lords signed a letter written Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.
“We strongly urge the England men’s team players and officials to speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanan under the Taliban. We also urge the ECB to consider a boycott of the upcoming match against Afghanan … to send a clear signal that such grotesque abuses will not be tolerated. We must stand against sex apartheid and implore the ECB to deliver a firm message of solidarity and hope to Afghan women and girls that their suffering has not been overlooked,” the letter read, according to The Guardian.
After describing ECB’s stance as lacking ‘any sort of backbone’, Antoniazzi called on the England cricketers to take a stand. “The power lies in the team. The power lies in the people that play the sport. The power lies with them – it’s in their hands,” the MP told BBC Sport.
Hain draws apartheid parallel
After calls for a boycott gathered traction, Hain on Wednesday struck a parallel connection between what is going on with women’s rights in Afghanan and the apartheid regime that exed in South Africa.
South Africa was isolated from the cricketing world from 1970 to 1991 due to its government’s racial segregation policy. “Having struggled long and hard for black and brown cricketers to represent their country like whites did exclusively for nearly a century, I hope that post-apartheid South African cricket will press for similar rights for all women in world cricket,” Hain wrote to CSA CEO Pholetsi Moseki, according to The Guardian. “Will South African cricket please raise the plight of Afghan women cricketers in the ICC and express firm solidarity with Afghan women and girls who wish to play?

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