Cricket bosses must boycott Afghanistan match

Even Farage and Corbyn are in agreement that the match should be boycotted in protest over the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women.

An Afghan woman with her cricket bat in Kabul as part of an AP photo series where women posed with the equipment of the sport they had loved playing (via Ebrahim Noroozi/Alamy) 2Y7G2D4

The inclusion of Afghanistan’s cricket team in an international tournament next month is such a clear-cut moral aberration that voices across the political spectrum have united in condemnation.

More than 160 parliamentarians, from Jeremy Corbyn to Nigel Farage, have signed a letter calling on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to boycott the Champions Trophy in Pakistan on February 26 in protest at the treatment of Afghan women by the ruling Taliban.

Their pleas have so far fallen on resolutely deaf ears, at home and globally. Last night, the International Cricket Council (ICC), organising the limited overs series, resisted pressure to ban Afghanistan, despite its blatant breach of rules which stipulate that competing nations must support women’s cricket.

If that were all, it would be grounds enough to bar the Afghan men’s team. But, of course, the miserable plight of women under the Taliban extends far beyond the sporting arena.