Keane appointed to the ICC's 'Afghanistan Task Force'

Cricket Ireland have confirmed that they are working with the ICC, with CEO Sarah Keane appointed to a 'Afghanistan Task Force', ahead of the men's team clash with Afghanistan in the first of five One Day Internationals on Wednesday, in a statement released to RTÉ Sport.

The news comes amid a controversial backdrop surrounding the fixture, due to the ruling Taliban's treatment of the women's team, who have been forced to flee as women are banned from playing sport.

When the five ODI series was announced, it was also said that Cricket Ireland would be offering an invitation to Afghanistan's women's cricket side to face Ireland here this summer, but no fixture has been announced as of yet.

However, in a statement, a spokesperson for the governing body confirmed that the open invite has now been pushed to 2027 or 2028, following meetings between CEO Sarah Keane, Chair Brian MacNeice and the Afghanistan women's team players and their representatives, which took place in London recently.

The statement said that, "the general view of the (Afghan) women's team is that they do not want to prevent their men’s team from playing cricket but rather leverage the attention to bring a spotlight on the issues of women’s rights in Afghanistan and their own plight."

Further to that, Cricket Ireland confirmed that Keane and McNeice have recently been at the forefront of helping to support the displaced international team.

The statement continued, "Brian MacNeice has been a vocal contributor at the ICC Board regarding the issues with the Afghan women's team and in line with Cricket Ireland’s board position, this has led to the ICC appointing our CEO, Sarah Keane, to the ICC’s Afghanistan Task Force that is overseeing the support of the displaced Afghan women’s team.

"We were able to use our leverage from the position we have taken on this issue to ensure that the funding for the Afghan women’s programme would continue, that the task force works towards ensuring the Afghan women’s team has a clear plan for participating in ICC pathway events and that Sarah will be a key member of the task force making decisions on how to support the Afghan women on an ongoing basis.

"This is all aligned to the views of the women themselves who we have engaged with directly to understand their perspectives."

In addition, the national governing body cited a need to stand up for women or people who they feel are having their rights stripped from them.

"We firmly believe the suppression of, and continuing degradation of women's rights in Afghanistan is abhorrent and are actively monitoring the situation and taking the advice of various government and sporting authorities.

As a full ICC member, Cricket Ireland must meet certain criteria to hold their status, including but not limited to the reciprocity of hosting Afghanistan, as they are obliged to do, as part of a previous reciprocal deal regarding hosting of games.

The statement concluded by saying that Cricket Ireland are, "are currently considering how else we can use this opportunity to raise the challenges facing the Afghan women's team."

The two sides have met frequently and were made full members on the same day in 2017. They have faced each other 66 times and have an ongoing rivalry in all three formats.

This will be former international Gary Wilson's first series in charge after Heinrich Malan stepped down recently.

Ireland are currently ranked 12th in the ICC Men’s ODI rankings – the team has played no ODIs in 2026 so far.

They were last in ODI action in May 2025 when they lost a three-match series 2-1 to West Indies.

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