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Calls for a boycott grew at the start of January with the sending of the cross-party letter. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi said England’s players should use their “power” to “make a difference”.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government was speaking to international counterparts on the issue but Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy later said the game should go ahead<\/a>, adding that boycotts are “counterproductive”.<\/p>\n “They deny sports fans the opportunity they love and they can very much penalise the athletes and sportspeople who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game,” she told the BBC earlier this month.<\/p>\n International Cricket Council (ICC) regulations state full membership is conditional upon having women’s cricket teams and pathway structures in place.<\/p>\n However, Afghanistan’s men’s team have been allowed to participate in ICC tournaments seemingly without any sanctions.<\/p>\n The ICC is keen to use its position and the sport of cricket to influence change in the country and does not believe it should punish players for government policy.<\/p>\n ECB chief executive Richard Gould wrote to the ICC, calling for more action from the global governing body after what he called “gender apartheid”.<\/p>\n He stopped short of calling for an immediate boycott but did ask the ICC to place “immediate condition” on Afghanistan’s full member status to provide women’s cricket by a certain date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n