Graeme West was appointed director of high performance seven months ago. 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."

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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.

Whether 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. But I think the main reason also was that people felt very strongly that if we don't [play the series] the issue kind of goes away, whereas we need to be talking about the displaced Afghan women's team. They've also been invited to [play in] Ireland but I don't think it will happen this year due to scheduling. It's incumbent on us to make sure we look to what we can do and it stays an issue for us and we do highlight their plight."

Sarah Keane was Swim Ireland chief executive before joining Cricket Ireland. Keane comes into the post as successor to Warren Deutrom, with a busy summer of fixtures coming up, including a Test against New Zealand before world champions India arrive in Belfast for two T20 games. There is also qualification for the 2028 Olympics and Ireland co-hosting the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2030.

There are plenty of challenges awaiting Keane with Cricket Ireland's finances top of the list. "For me the biggest challenge will be around a sustainable business model for Cricket Ireland. Being a full member is a privilege but also a responsibility - I think that's something we have to get a better grasp on over the next couple of years. I'm also very excited about the next couple of years with the Olympics and World Cup. We're going in the right direction. We have to be realistic about what we can do. We have to play cricket but we also have to play cricket that's affordable and sustainable."