Champions Trophy: After England Cricket Board, South Africa Sports Minister Joins Calls For Afghanistan Cricket Boycott – Jagran English

Champions Trophy 2025: South Africa is set to open its Champions Trophy campaign against Afghanistan on February 21 in Karachi. 
Champions Trophy 2025: South Africa’s Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has publicly supported the call for a boycott of Afghanistan during the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, aligning with similar appeals from British politicians directed at England. The controversy stems from the Taliban government’s continued restrictions on women’s rights since regaining power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
South Africa is set to open its Champions Trophy campaign against Afghanistan on February 21 in Karachi. However, McKenzie has urged Cricket South Africa (CSA) to reconsider participating in the fixture. This sentiment echoes mounting international criticism, particularly from nations like the UK, pressuring teams to take a stand against Afghanistan’s treatment of women.
England and South Africa both share a group with Afghanistan in the One-Day International tournament. The calls for a boycott highlight the intersection of sports and global human rights, with critics arguing that engaging with Afghanistan in the tournament could be seen as tacit approval of the regime’s policies.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries and the ICC (International Cricket Council) will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world, and especially the women in sports,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
“It is not for me as the Sports Minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honour cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen.
“As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during Apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done towards women anywhere in the world,” he added.
Cricket South Africa responded with a statement on Thursday, saying they would take their lead from the ICC, and that a “unified and collective approach from all ICC members” was needed.
“CSA finds the treatment and suppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan abhorrent and firmly believes that women’s cricket deserves equal recognition and resources,” the statement said.
“As the Champions Trophy is an ICC event, the position on Afghanistan must be guided by the world body in accordance with international tournament participation requirements and regulations.”
More than 160 British politicians have signed a cross-party letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board, calling for a boycott of England’s fixture against Afghanistan in Lahore on Feb. 26.
ECB chief executive Richard Gould responded by also calling for a uniform approach from all member nations towards Afghanistan’s participation in international cricket.
Australia are the other country scheduled to take on Afghanistan, in Lahore on Feb. 28.
Cricket Australia indefinitely postponed a bilateral men’s Twenty 20 series against Afghanistan last March citing “deteriorating human rights for women and girls in the country under Taliban rule”.
But they did play them at the World Cup in India in late 2023 and at the T20 World Cup last June.
Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird last month said he was “very proud of the position we’ve taken” after they were accused of hypocrisy.
“We’ve taken a position, and we’re proudly standing up where we think we should,” he said.
Inputs from Reuters
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