England captain Heather Knight says that the plight of the Afghanistan women’s cricket team has been forgotten and called for a renewed focus on giving the players in exile “a voice”, amid the current controversy surrounding England men’s upcoming Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan.
England are due to play Afghanistan on 26 February in Lahore and have faced calls from a number of campaign groups to boycott the match, in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and CEO of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Richard Gould, have both said the onus should be on the ICC to take unified action.
