ENGLAND’S forthcoming cricket match against Afghanistan should not be cancelled amid calls for a boycott over the Taliban’s treatment of women, the Culture Secretary has said.

A cross-party group of more than 160 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) 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.

Cabinet Minister Lisa Nandy said the match should go ahead so as not to penalise the England team’s players, but suggested British dignitaries should snub the event.

“I do think it should go ahead,” the Culture Secretary told BBC Breakfast when asked about a boycott of the match.

She added: “I’m instinctively very cautious about boycotts in sports, partly because I think they’re counterproductive.

“I think they deny sports fans the opportunity that they love, and they can also very much penalise the athletes and the sports people who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game, and then they’re denied the opportunities to compete.

“They are not the people that we want to penalise for the appalling actions of the Taliban against women and girls.”

The ECB is resisting the idea of unilateral action by forfeiting the game, with chief executive Richard Gould advocating for a collective response from counterparts at the International Cricket Council.

That stance has received political backing from No 10, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman suggesting the onus remained with the sport’s governing body.

Amnesty International UK’s gender justice lead Chiara Capraro said: “With women and girls completely prohibited from participating in public life in Afghanistan, the very least the England men’s cricketers can do is speak out and forcefully condemn the Taliban’s grotesque regime of gender persecution.

“The ECB, like any business or similar organisation, has a duty to avoid contributing to human rights violations, which means assessing whether fulfilling this tie in Lahore will affect women in Afghanistan, such as by giving the Taliban a free propaganda boost.

“We also need to see the ICC stepping up and taking responsibility.”