Report: ECB unhappy with Cricket Ireland for hosting Afghanistan ODI series despite UK government-backed Taliban policy
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Report: ECB unhappy with Cricket Ireland for hosting Afghanistan ODI series despite UK government-backed Taliban policy originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The ECB is reportedly unhappy with Cricket Ireland for hosting a five-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
- England refuses to play Afghanistan bilaterally over the Taliban regime's treatment of women.
- The series begins in Bready on Wednesday, with all matches in Northern Ireland.
The ECB is unhappy with Cricket Ireland for not following its Afghanistan policy
Cricket's ongoing debate over how to engage with Afghanistan has opened up a fresh rift, this time between two neighbouring boards. Cricket Ireland's decision to stage a full one-day international series against Afghanistan this summer has reportedly angered the England and Wales Cricket Board, which has taken a markedly different stance on the issue.
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The disagreement centres on the Taliban regime's treatment of women, which has led England and several other nations to refuse bilateral fixtures against Afghanistan. Ireland, by contrast, has chosen to build closer ties with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, a divergence that could carry consequences for its future dealings with England.
The series, which begins on Wednesday, throws into sharp relief the differing judgements two boards can reach on the same difficult question and how scheduling in modern cricket has become a matter of policy as much as sport.
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The ECB-Cricket Ireland relations could be strained
According to a report by the Guardian's Matt Hughes, the ECB is understood to be unhappy about the series taking place, and Ireland's decision could cost it lucrative future fixtures against England. The board's position is tied to the stance of chair Richard Thompson, who has described the Taliban regime as enforcing a "gender apartheid".
The ECB's policy, which is backed by the UK government, is to schedule no bilateral cricket against Afghanistan, though England did play them in a Champions Trophy group game last year after a specially convened board meeting. Cricket Ireland has instead offered Afghanistan five ODIs this month, all staged in Northern Ireland, with a reciprocal tour of the UAE to follow next March for a Test, three ODIs and three T20s.
Per the report, the relationship between the two boards has been delicate for some time, with England having declined an invitation to join a proposed Euro Nations Cup tournament involving Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands and Italy next year, citing a congested calendar.
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A clash of principle with no easy answer
Ireland's position is not one taken lightly, and the board has been open about the unease surrounding it. Chief executive Sarah Keane acknowledged the "moral discomfort" attached to the decision, while stressing that Ireland takes its obligations as an ICC full member seriously, and players were given the option of withdrawing.
The wider picture complicates any clean judgement. Afghanistan remains the only ICC full member without a women's cricket programme, yet the world governing body has not banned its men's team, leaving individual boards to draw their own lines. But England isn't the only nation refusing a bilateral series against Afghanistan.
Australia, South Africa and New Zealand have all joined England in the stance. On the other hand, Ireland, the West Indies, Zimbabwe, and other Asian full members have continued to grant them fixtures. Now, while there's a stark split, one has to understand that despite the ECB's frustration, Ireland hasn't broken any rule.
Once one board commits to a full bilateral series, the principle England has chosen becomes harder to present as a universal one, and the disagreement is likely to simmer as long as the ICC declines to impose a single, coordinated approach.
For now, two boards a short distance apart have reached opposite conclusions, and the cost of that divergence may yet be counted in fixtures England chooses not to offer.
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