HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
Richard Gould
The England and Wales Cricket Board
Lord’s Cricket Ground
London
NW8 8QZ
6th January 2025
Dear Richard Gould,
We are writing to express our profound concern regarding the England cricket men’s team
upcoming match playing Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy next month, given the appalling
oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan and the removal of their rights that continues
unabated.
Upon regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, one of the Taliban’s first acts was
banning women from sport. They raided the homes of female athletes, some of whom were
forced to burn their kits to avoid being identified. The women’s cricket team was disbanded and
having fled the country are now in exile.
Aside being morally repugnant, this is a direct contravention of International Cricket Council
rules that require all test nations to support and fund women’s cricket. As you know, the
Afghanistan men’s cricket team is still allowed to compete internationally, while their women’s
team is denied the same right. Cricket’s world governing body has not taken any action against
the Afghanistan men’s team. Despite members of the former Afghanistan women’s team calling
on the ICC to help them form and recognise a refugee team to enable them to play, there has
been no progress.
As the English team prepares for its upcoming scheduled match to play Afghanistan in the
Champions Trophy next month, the former Afghan women’s team remain in exile with no near
prospect of being able to compete on the world stage, while back home in Afghanistan no new
girls or women are learning to play cricket, or any sport for that matter.
This blatant denial of opportunities for Afghan women cricketers is appalling, and forms just one
element of the Taliban’s unconscionable oppression of women and girls that continues
unabated. Sport was only the first joy to be removed from women in Afghanistan, and since then
life for them has become incomprehensibly unbearable, with the Taliban removing their most
basic human rights and freedoms at a prolific scale.
Women are denied access to schools and universities, have been barred from most forms of
employment and have now been denied all healthcare, as they can no longer train as nurses or
be treated by male medics. They are banned from beauty salons, stadiums, gyms and parks,
cannot travel alone without a male chaperone, dance, sing or drive. Their faces are banned from
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view, their voices from being heard, even in prayer. Most recently, the Taliban have banned
windows through which women might be glimpsed in their domestic spaces.
As the world watches this insidious dystopia unfold, women in Afghanistan find themselves
erased from the most innocent of daily activities, imprisoned at home, risking torture and public
execution if they protest or do not comply.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is not blind to this abhorrence. Last year, you confirmed
that England would not schedule a bilateral series against Afghanistan while women were
banned from sport.
Now, with England scheduled to play Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy next month, you
have a precious opportunity to extend those principles and condemn this abhorrent oppression.
We strongly urge the England Cricket men’s team players and officials to speak out against the
horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
We also urge the ECB to consider a boycott of the upcoming match against Afghanistan in the
ICC Champion’s Trophy Group stage on February 26th to send a clear signal that such
grotesque abuses will not be tolerated.
We must stand against sex apartheid, and we implore the ECB to deliver a firm message of
solidarity and hope to Afghan women and girls that their suffering has not been overlooked.
Yours sincerely,
Tonia Antoniazzi MP
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP Rt Hon Lord Hain
Sarah Champion MP Baroness Barbara Keeley
Debbie Abrahams MP Rt Hon Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
Helen Hayes MP Rt Hon Baroness Morris of Yardley
Chi Onwurah MP Rt Hon Baroness Winterton of Doncaster DBE
Rt Hon Sir Roger Gale MP Lord Griffiths of Burry Port
Wendy Chamberlain MP Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town
Ruth Jones MP Rt Hon Baroness Taylor of Bolton
Sharon Hodgson MP Baroness Hazarika MBE
Jess Asato MP Rt Hon Lord Kinnock
Jo Platt MP Rt Hon Baroness Laing of Elderslie CBE
Paula Barker MP Lord David Triesman
Rachel Taylor MP Rt Hon Baroness Harman KC
Cathine Fookes MP
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Kirsteen Sullivan MP Rt Hon Lord Touhig
Margaret Mullane MP Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe
Helena Dollimore MP Lord Campbell-Savours
Ann Davies MP Baroness Nye
Dan Aldridge MP Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
Rachel Gilmour MP Baroness Wilcox of Newport
Rt Hon John McDonnell MP Lord Bach
Sarah Hall MP Baroness Blower
Johanna Baxter MP Lord Watson of Wyre Forest
Katrina Murray MP Baroness Lister of Burtersett CBE
Ruth Cadbury MP Lord Shamash
Zarah Sultana MP Baroness O’Loan DBE MRIA
Emily Darlington MP Lord Young of Norwood Green
Mary Kelly Foy MP Rt Hon Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee
DBE
David Smith MP
Lord Lucas
Leigh Ingham MP
Baroness Meyer CBE
Adam Jogee MP
Lord Sandhurst KC
Joani Reid MP
Rt Hon Baroness Hughes of Stretford
Rosie Duffield MP
Lord Morrow
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP
Baroness Bertin
Jen Craft MP
Baroness Drake CBE
Dr Allison Gardner MP
Lord Watson of Invergowrie
Kirith Entwistle MP
Baroness Foster of Oxton DBE
Lizzi Collinge MP
Lord Strasburger
Alice Macdonald MP
Rt Hon Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links
Mrs Sarah Russell MP
Baroness Donaghy CBE FRSA
Rt Hon Valerie Vaz MP
The Earl of Leicester
Michelle Welsh MP
Baroness Lea of Lymm CBE
Tracy Gilbert MP
Baroness Fullbrook
Patricia Ferguson MP
Baroness Helic
Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck MP
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
Ben Lake MP
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Rt Hon Liz Saville Roberts MP Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns DBE
Mary Glindon MP Baroness Redfern
Marsha De Cordova MP Baroness Swinburne
Llinos Medi MP Baroness Harding of Winscomb
Alicia Kearns MP Baroness Morgan of Huyton
Brian Leishman MP Lord Shinkwin
Claire Hanna MP Baroness Eaton DBE DL
Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP Baroness Mobarik CBE
Kate Osborne MP Lord Roberts of Belgravia
Andrew Ranger MP Baroness Monckton of Dallington Forest
MBE
Ms Stella Creasy MP
Baroness Goudie
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP
Baroness Stedman-Scott OBE
Dr Marie Tidball MP
Lord Jackson of Peterborough
Siân Berry MP
Baroness Thornhill MBE
Grahame Morris MP
Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge
Robin Swann MP
Lord Sikka
Perran Moon MP
Rt Hon Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Maya Ellis MP
Baroness Hodgson of Abinger CBE
Sorcha Eastwood MP
Lord Woodley
Alex Sobel MP
Baroness Bray of Coln
Samantha Niblett MP
Lord Strathcarron
Jon Pearce MP
Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE
Naushabah Khan MP
Baroness Seccombe DBE JP
Sean Woodcock MP
Baroness Finn
Abtisam Mohamed MP
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
Luke Akehurst MP
Lord Farmer
Sarah Edwards MP
Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath
Dr Beccy Cooper MP
Baroness Noakes DBE
Linsey Farnsworth MP
Rt Hon Lord Bassam of Brighton
Mrs Elsie Blundell MP
Rt Hon Baroness Stowell of Beeston MBE
Anna Dixon MP
Baroness Morrissey DBE
Dr Simon Opher MP
Baroness Shields OBE
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Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top
Rebecca Paul MP Baroness Morgan of Drefelin
Richard Tice MP Baroness Mallalieu KC
Euan Stainbank MP Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth
Anna Sabine MP
Alison Hume MP
Will Stone MP
Nigel Farage MP
Sarah Dyke MP
Deirdre Costigan MP
Ms Polly Billington MP
Rebecca Harris MP
Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP
Mike Wood MP
Saquib Bhatti MP
Steve Race MP
Rt Hon Richard Holden MP
Helen Grant MP
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst MP
Alison Griffiths MP
Charlie Dewhirst MP
Rt Hon David Mundell MP
Shivani Raja MP
Bob Blackman MP
Andrew George MP
Ben Maguire MP
Mr James Frith MP
Manuella Perteghella MP
Mr Gagan Mohindra MP
Martin Wrigley MP
