Last Saturday, two things happened at the same time. The brutally misogynist Taliban regime staged a military parade in Kabul to celebrate its five years back in power. And Ireland played Afghanistan in a cricket international in Belfast. Are these events by any chance related?

Ireland also played Afghanistan on Wednesday and Monday of last week. And on the Wednesday and Friday of the previous week. If you didn’t notice, it’s because, apart from a few brave souls, no one made a fuss of the fact that Ireland was hosting five men’s one-day internationals against a country that has driven its own women’s cricket team into exile.

The series of games Ireland concluded on Saturday was entirely voluntary. Unlike the international soccer team’s bad luck in being drawn against Israel in the Nations League, these were not competitive fixtures that Ireland would be punished for not fulfilling. Cricket Ireland decided to do this – excuse the pun – entirely off its own bat.

If anything, it’s the opposite: choosing to play Afghanistan puts Ireland at odds with more powerful nations within the sport. England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa refuse to play Afghanistan in bilateral games. Cricket Ireland, on the other hand, not only invited its men’s team to play Ireland but it has arranged no fewer than seven matches against Afghanistan in the UAE next March.

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