England will face Afghanistan in their second group game of the 2025 Champions Trophy, but more than 160 politicians have called for a boycott over the Taliban's outlawing of female sport

Downing Street has called on the International Cricket Council to “deliver on their own rules” as the England team resists pressure to boycott their forthcoming match against Afghanistan. A cross-party group of over 160 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the England and Wales Cricket Board to sit out next month’s fixture at the Champions Trophy in Lahore as a moral objection to the Taliban regime’s ongoing assault on women’s rights in the country.

Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime's clampdown on women's rights is a matter that requires a "co-ordinated,