England’s males’s gamers have the “energy” to make their very own stand and refuse to play Afghanistan within the Champions Trophy, based on Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) met with Antoniazzi on Tuesday after she despatched a cross-party letter to the governing physique, signed by almost 200 UK politicians, which known as on the ECB to boycott the fixture.
These UK politicians need the staff to refuse to play the 50-over match in Lahore on 26 February and take a stand towards the Taliban regime’s assault on girls’s rights.
Ladies’s participation in sport has successfully been outlawed because the Taliban’s return to energy in 2021, and plenty of of Afghanistan’s feminine gamers left the nation for their very own security.
Within the wake of her assembly with the ECB, the place the governing physique maintained its non-committal place on a boycott, Antoniazzi informed BBC Sport that England’s gamers can select to make their very own stand on the problem.
“The ability lies within the staff. The ability lies within the those who play the game. The ability lies with them – it is of their arms,” the MP for Gower stated.
“How large is England cricket? It is enormous. They’ve an enormous standing on this planet of sport they usually do have an affect, and I need them to grasp that that affect is what they need to use to make a distinction.”
The Skilled Cricketers’ Affiliation (PCA) declined to touch upon the prospect of particular person England gamers probably boycotting the fixture, however informed BBC Sport it’s “an especially advanced challenge”.
A spokesperson stated: “The PCA is appalled on the abhorrent remedy of the ladies and women below the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
“The PCA continues to have interaction with the ECB and the World Cricketers’ Affiliation on the matter.”
Because the matter pertains to particular person participant views the ECB didn’t really feel it was acceptable to remark.
