Zimbabwe tour cancelled as ECB cuts ties in response to crisis

Zimbabwe will not tour England next year after Lord's officially severed ties with the African country yesterday and the government concluded it would not be right for a tour to go ahead.

The England and Wales Cricket Board released a statement confirming that it was suspending bilateral arrangements following the lead of South Africa earlier this week in response to the political violence in the country under president Robert Mugabe.

Prime minister Gordon Brown yesterday urged other countries to join Britain in calling for Zimbabwe to be banned from the ICC World Twenty20, which is also being held here next year.

"We want to ensure that Zimbabwe does not tour England next year. We will call for other countries to join us in banning Zimbabwe from the Twenty20 tournament," he told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.

England will now look for other opponents in place of Zimbabwe, who were due to tour before the 20-over tournament. One option would be to ask Bangladesh to tour a year ahead of schedule while Sri Lanka and Pakistan would be other possible opponents.

The Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham, yesterday morning handed a letter to the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, outlining the government's view that the tour should be scrapped.

"The Zimbabwean government has ceased to observe the principle of the rule of law: it has terrorised its own citizens, including the ruthless and violent suppression of legitimate political opposition," Burnham wrote. "The UK government has responded with a measured approach, which seeks to isolate Zimbabwe internationally and bring pressure to bear on supranational institutions such as the United Nations and European Union to take yet firmer action against the despotic regime, whilst ensuring that its humanitarian life- saving mission to Zimbabwean citizens continues.

"The UK government considers it would be contrary to this general approach for the English cricket team to participate in bilateral fixtures with Zimbabwe. The close ties of the Zimbabwe cricket team to the Mugabe regime have also had a bearing on our decision.

"The government strongly defends the autonomy of our sports' governing bodies. We also support the autonomous management of international sporting competitions by international sports federations and independent representation of British sporting interests... This decision on Zimbabwe does not alter that general position, but it is made in response to the exceptional circumstances in this case."

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