Drawing a line? Dignity of Afghan women must be worth more than the game of cricket

There's all types of lines you can draw. We've drawn a line." So explained Mike Baird, the chair of Cricket Australia, last month in explaining the governing body's stance on playing against Afghanistan, the country that has just banned women from looking out of windows.

- Jonathan Liew

According to a new decree from the Taliban government, new buildings must not be constructed with windows through which women can be seen. Existing buildings with windows must be walled up or covered. "Seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts," said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the government.

At present Cricket Australia - in common with the England and Wales Cricket Board - are refusing to schedule bilateral series against Afghanistan out of concern for "the deterioration of basic human rights for women in Afghanistan". But, confusingly, both countries are perfectly happy to play them in global competitions - Australia at last year's Twenty20 World Cup, England at next month's Champions Trophy.

Which, however you square it, is a weirdly precise place to draw your moral line. Our concern for the women and girls of Afghanistan apparently kicks in at 1.5 cricket matches. Two or more games in a single sitting: an act of collusion in a misogynist, medieval death cult. Fewer than two: all right lads, crack on.

At which point, we run into the equivocation and realpolitik of the cricketing establishment, arguing against a sporting boycott of Afghanistan on the grounds that it would extinguish the hope and joy generated by the men's team over the past two decades, while achieving little tangible benefit.