England captain Jos Buttler gestures during a press conference prior to their practice session ahead of their first Twenty20 cricket match against India, in Kolkata, India. (AP)
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler has insisted that boycotting their match against Afghanistan is not a right way to go forward and said their match against them in the Champions Trophy must go ahead.
Earlier this month, more than 160 UK politicians signed a letter arguing that England should refuse to play the men’s one-day international in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 26 to take a stand against the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights. Women were banned from participating in sport after the Taliban regained power in 2021, forcing the Afghanistan women’s cricket team to flee the country.
At the 2003 Cricket World Cup, England forfeited a game against Zimbabwe in protest at Robert Mugabe’s regime.
“Political situations like this, as a player you’re trying to be as informed as you can be,” Buttler was quoted by The Guardian.
“The experts know a lot more about it, so I’ve been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key [the ECB men’s managing director] and the guys above to see how they see it.
“I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about it.
“The players haven’t really worried too much about it. You’re trying to educate yourself and read up on these things.
“There’s been some good stuff written about it that I’ve tapped into and I’ve spoken to quite a few people to try and gather expert opinion.
“I’m led by those experts on situations like this, but as a player you don’t want political situations to affect sport.
“We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament.”
England begin a five-match Twenty20 international series against India on Wednesday in Kolkata, marking the start of Brendon McCullum’s reign as all-format head coach.
England playing XI: Ben Duckett, Phil Salt (WK), Jos Buttler (C), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
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