London (Kubha News) – The ECB chief executive Richard Gould, recently stated that there are no upcoming team matches scheduled against Afghanistan in their fixture list, and England will continue to refrain from playing against Afghanistan in bilingual series as long as the Taliban does not allow women cricketers to play.
Gould mentioned regarding World Cup games that these matches are regulated by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and England must play against Afghanistan.
According to the ECB executive, the International Cricket Council emphasized in its recent meeting with member countries that it cannot interfere in the internal policies of governments.
With the resurgence of the Taliban in 2021, female athletes, including the women’s cricket team, were banned from sports, and most of Afghanistan’s women cricketers sought refuge in Australia.
Australia had previously canceled two series with the Afghan national team due to the Taliban government’s ban on women’s sports.
A series of one-day matches between the national cricket teams of Afghanistan and Australia was scheduled to be held in the UAE in August this year, but Cricket Australia announced once again that it has canceled these matches due to the continued ban on women’s sports by the Taliban government.
This decision by Australia also elicited a serious reaction from Afghanistan’s national cricket team players.
Rashid Khan Arman, a renowned Afghanistan cricketer, warned last month that if Australia does not reconsider its decision, he will also reconsider his decision to play in the country’s cricket league (Big Bash), as according to Rashid Khan, his country and the happiness of its people are more important to him than anything else.