McKenzie urges his nation’s cricket governing physique to not honour the Champions Trophy fixture in opposition to Afghanistan on February 21.
South Africa’s Sports activities Minister Gayton McKenzie has given his assist to requires a boycott of Afghanistan on the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, including his voice to these of British politicians who’ve called on England to not play the South Asian nation on the match subsequent month.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of different international locations and the ICC (Worldwide Cricket Council) should consider carefully in regards to the message the game of cricket needs to ship the world, and particularly the ladies in sports activities,” he stated in a press release on Thursday.
“It’s not for me because the sports activities minister to make the ultimate resolution on whether or not South Africa ought to honour cricketing fixtures in opposition to Afghanistan. If it was my resolution, then it definitely wouldn’t occur.”
England and South Africa share the identical group with Afghanistan within the one-day worldwide (ODI) competitors and are below stress to boycott the fixtures in response to the Taliban authorities’s crackdown on ladies’s rights since returning to energy in August 2021.
South Africa are scheduled to open their Champions Trophy schedule in opposition to Afghanistan in Karachi on February 21 however McKenzie urged his nation’s cricket governing physique to not honour the fixture.
“As a person who comes from a race that was not allowed equal entry to sporting alternatives throughout Apartheid, it could be hypocritical and immoral to look the opposite approach in the present day when the identical is being completed in the direction of ladies wherever on the earth,” he added.
Greater 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 in opposition to Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.
ECB chief government Richard Gould responded by calling for a uniform strategy from all member nations in the direction of Afghanistan’s participation in worldwide cricket.
Australia are the opposite group scheduled to tackle Afghanistan, in Lahore on February 28.
Cricket Australia indefinitely postponed a bilateral males’s Twenty 20 collection in opposition to Afghanistan final March citing “deteriorating human rights for girls and ladies within the nation below Taliban rule” however they did play them on the World Cup in India in late 2023 and on the T20 World Cup final June.
Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird final month stated he was “very happy with the place we’ve taken” after they had been accused of hypocrisy.
“We’ve taken a place, and we’re proudly standing up the place we expect we must always,” he stated.
