ICC CEO Geoff Allardice has expanded on the board’s stance towards Afghanistan’s continued status as a Full Member nation, saying there is “no view that they should be sanctioned”, despite the ban on women’s cricket in the country.
In an interview on Test Match Special during the lunch break on Day One of the World Test Championship final at the Kia Oval, Allardice spoke about several issues facing the game, including Afghanistan.
Asked about Afghanistan’s continued Full Member status of the ICC despite having no structures for women to play cricket in the country, one of the criteria of full membership, Allardice said: “The ICC’s constitution, our objective is to promote the game of cricket in conjunction with our members. Afghanistan as a member, when the conditions allowed and when government regulations allowed, were starting to develop a women’s cricket programme. It was going at a slow but steady pace and there was a change of regime in the country and the government changed the rules. Like all of our members, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has to operate within the laws of its country and the rules that are set by the governments of their countries.”
While Afghanistan have never played a women’s international game, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) established a women’s national team in 2020, giving female players central contracts for the first time. But less than a year later, after the Taliban dramatically swept back into power, women have been banned by the regime from playing cricket. Those players given central contracts in 2020 were forced to flee, in fear for their lives. The Taliban have also put in place strict bans on women’s education, as well as restrictions on dress and rights to work.
“The ICC Board’s discussed this at length and their position is that they want to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board,” continued Allardice. “They are operating and trying to promote cricket in the country the best they can with the circumstances that prevail there. They were promoting women’s cricket up until the time the regime changed in 2021.”
Earlier this year, Cricket Australia announced they would not fulfil their commitment to playing a bilateral white-ball series against Afghanistan in the UAE, in protest of the country’s treatment of women. The decision was widely met with anger from the Afghanistan men’s players, including Rashid Khan, who threatened to withdraw from the BBL. There have also been calls for the ICC to place a similar boycott on their members playing against Afghanistan.
“Our board discussed it as I said and there was no view that they should be sanctioned,” said Allardice. “Because, as a cricket board, they’re functioning under the laws of their country. The way things are at the moment there hasn’t been a lot of progress but it’s something we keep obviously talking to them about. I think as a country they’re obviously going through a difficult period and if we can get back to the way things were that would be great, but at the moment we’re supporting them as best we can.
“Every one of our members has a relationship with their government in different ways. I could give examples in probably all of our Test playing countries around the way governments get involved to different extents with sport.”
Allardice also clarified that no team, including Australia, would boycott playing Afghanistan at the upcoming fifty-over World Cup.
The ICC’s decision not to suspend Afghanistan from Full Member status or support a boycott against playing their men’s side comes four years after they took a different stance towards Zimbabwe. In 2019, the board unanimously decided to suspend all funding going towards Zimbabwe Cricket and that they would not be allowed to play in ICC events. This was due to the board’s understanding that the Zimbabwean government had failed to provide free and fair elections in the country.
At the time, then ICC Chair Shashank Manohar said: “We must keep our sport free from political interference. What has happened in Zimbabwe is a serious breach of the ICC Constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked. The ICC wants cricket to continue in Zimbabwe in accordance with the ICC Constitution.”
