Jos Buttler believes England should play Afghanistan in next month's Champions Trophy in Pakistan, despite calls for a boycott over the Taliban regime's treatment of women. A group of more than 160 MPs this month signed a letter to England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould to consider boycotting the match against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26. I requested the Board of Directors to do so.
After the Taliban took power in 2021, women were banned from participating in the sport and Afghanistan's women's cricket team was forced to flee the country.
The letter, written by Labor MP Tonia Antoniazzi, called on the England men's cricket team to “speak out against the appalling treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban”. Gould then wrote to the International Cricket Council, asking it to “intervene and show global leadership” against the “gender apartheid faced by Afghanistan's 14 million women.” . Gould pushed back against calls for a boycott, arguing that a “coordinated approach led by the ICC would have far more impact than unilateral action by individual member states.”
Asked whether he and his players had been involved in discussions with the ECB, England white-ball captain Butler said: “In political situations like this, as a player you try to get as much information as you can. I've been trying to keep the dialogue going with Rob Key, because the experts know a lot more about it. [ECB men’s managing director] And let's see how the people above see it. I don't think a boycott is the way to solve it.
“The players don't worry too much about it. These things, you try to educate yourself and find out about these things. There's been some good things written about it. I leveraged it and spoke to quite a few people to gather expert opinion. We have experts to guide us on situations like this, but as players we don't want the political situation to affect the sport. I hope it will be a really good tournament.”
Culture and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy called for the games to be held. “I'm instinctively very cautious about boycotting sports, partly because I think it's counterproductive,” she told BBC Breakfast. “Not only do they deny sports fans the opportunities they love, but they can also impose significant penalties on athletes and athletes who work extremely hard to reach the pinnacle of their sport and are denied the opportunity to compete. They are not the people we want to punish for the Taliban's horrific acts against women and girls.”
After newsletter promotion
England begin Brendon McCullum's reign as all-format head coach when they begin a five-match Twenty20 international series against India in Kolkata on Wednesday. Ben Duckett will start in his first T20 international since December 2023, with Phil Salt taking the gloves in place of Buttler, who will be batting number three. Jamie Smith will be absent as he is yet to make his debut for England at the earliest.
