JOHANNESBURG, 26 November 2004 — England’s tour of Zimbabwe will finally go ahead after Zimbabwe authorities yesterday lifted a media ban on 13 British journalists but not in time to save today’s opening one-day match in Harare.
In a statement issued at the England squad’s base in Johannesburg, an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) spokesman confirmed the team would fly out to Harare today and that the opening match would be rescheduled.
England spokesman Andrew Walpole told Sky News: “The team is booked on a plane from Johannesburg to Harare which leaves at 1030 a.m. tomorrow (0830 GMT Friday). The first One-Day International between Zimbabwe and England will not take place now tomorrow.
“I can say that the ECB is committed to playing a five-match series against Zimbabwe and further discussions will now need to take place about the precise scheduling of those games.”
The second one-day match is currently scheduled for Sunday, also in Harare.
ECB chairman David Morgan said: “The whole incident (banning the journalists) has been regrettable but it has now been resolved.”
Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo explained the U-turn on the journalists’ visas.
“Delays in clearing 13 of the 55 had been encountered because the journalists had supplied insufficient information,” he told ZBC radio, which reported that some of the journalists did not have their names on the websites of organizations they claimed to be working for.
Moyo said: “Further enquiries have since been carried out and all journalists have been cleared for accreditation” by the country’s official media commission.”
The delay in clearing the 13 journalists, which had threatened to scupper the forthcoming series of One-Day Internationals, was purely “an administrative matter that would have been speeded up had the affected journalists supplied the necessary information on time,” the report said.
Under the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Program, tours can only be cancelled on the advice of a government or because of overriding security and safety worries.
The ECB could face a two million-dollar ICC fine and suspension from the international game if England pull out for any other reason.
In a statement ICC President Ehsan Mani said: “The non-accreditation of these cricket journalists by the Zimbabwe Government was a very serious issue and the ICC welcomes the reversal of this original decision.”
He added: “The commitment of the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, Peter Chingoka, and the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, David Morgan, has been critical to the resolution of this issue.”
The Zimbabwe government accuses Britain’s press of having a hostile news agenda toward its former colony, aimed at tarnishing the reputation of President Robert Mugabe’s government.
In the past journalists from that country have been accused of trying to sneak into the country under the pretext of covering sport to cover other stories.
