Ireland players can opt out of Afghanistan series

Cricket Ireland's Graeme West says players have the option of not playing against Afghanistan this summer. The director of high performance was speaking after Cricket Ireland announced that the men's team will play the Afghans in five one-day internationals in Bready in August. Female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Last year, England played Afghanistan in a Champions Trophy match despite calls for a boycott . When asked if Cricket Ireland would respect a player's decision not to play in such a fixture, West said: "I think you have to - we've had conversations with the male and female teams, just to gauge opinion. "There are concerns as you would anticipate, but when we had similar conversations with the board and considered all the factors, there's an understanding.

" Rain ends Ireland & Australia's T20 World Cup hopes Cricket Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane said on Friday that the decision to host Afghanistan this summer came with some " moral discomfort " given the plight of women in the country. Keane, who started in the role this month, is the first permanent female chief executive of an International Cricket Council (ICC) full member nation. W0hether to proceed with the series was the sole item discussed at a "robust" 90-minute Cricket Ireland board meeting last week before the series was given the green light, albeit not unanimously.

"I want to acknowledge upfront the moral discomfort that I think we all sit with around this decision, and how the regime treats women in particular," she added. The new CEO also explained the reasons behind the decision to go ahead with the August series. "Forty percent of our board are women - the overall decision was that we would play Afghanistan and take our obligations as a full member very seriously.