The Afghanistan cricket team toured Ireland in August 2026 to play the Ireland cricket team. The tour consisted of five One-day International (ODI) matches. In March 2026, Cricket Ireland (CI) had confirmed the fixtures for the tour as part of the 2026 Home international season.
The hosting of the series attracted significant international media attention, human rights scrutiny, and criticism from rival cricket boards, most notably the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), due to moral concerns and political opposition over the Taliban administration's ban on women's sport in Afghanistan.
Squads Paul Stirling (c) Mark Adair Andrew Balbirnie Ben Calitz Curtis Campher Cade Carmichael George Dockrell Gavin Hoey Andrew McBrine Liam McCarthy Byron McDonough Jai Moondra Harry Tector Lorcan Tucker (wk) Rahmat Shah (c) Rahmanullah Gurbaz (vc, wk) Ibrahim Zadran Sediqullah Atal Hashmatullah Shahidi Darwish Rasooli Azmatullah Omarzai Ikram Alikhil (wk) Nangialai Kharoti Rashid Khan AM Ghazanfar Yamin Ahmadzai Mohammad Saleem Fazalhaq Farooqi Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi
ODI series
1st ODI
2nd ODI
3rd ODI
4th ODI
5th ODI
Controversies and protests The series was met with widespread debate, public controversy, and opposition from human rights organisations, fans, and external cricket boards due to Afghanistan's political situation and the exclusion of women from sport under Taliban rule.
When agreeing to the fixtures in March 2026, Cricket Ireland CEO Sarah Keane acknowledged a sense of "moral discomfort" regarding playing Afghanistan. Keane was later appointed to the ICC's Afghanistan Task Force to address these ongoing human rights and participation concerns.
Reports ahead of the series indicated that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was deeply unhappy with Cricket Ireland's decision to stage the bilateral series. While England continues to play Afghanistan in mandatory ICC events, the ECB maintains a strict policy, aligned with the UK government stance, against scheduling unsanctioned bilateral matches.
Human rights advocates, including Amnesty International, warned Cricket Ireland about providing international legitimacy to the Taliban regime through bilateral fixtures. Opposition was also raised by supporters, including Cricket Ireland fan Orla Phillips from Dalkey, County Dublin, who wrote a letter to the editor of The Irish Times titled "Irony of playing Afghanistan in cricket". In the letter, Phillips criticised the decision to schedule bilateral matches despite the Taliban's ban on women's sport, highlighting the irony of Cricket Ireland hosting the series while receiving state funding, including €70,000 intended to promote gender equality. In response to expected public opposition, Cricket Ireland confirmed that appropriate security measures were put in place at match venues to handle potential demonstrations.
References
External links Series home at Cricinfo