LONDON, 1 May 2004 — The British government yesterday gave its reluctant backing for England to go ahead with their controversial tour of Zimbabwe in October.
The England Cricket Board faced a one-year-suspension from international cricket and a two million pound fine under new ICC rules introduced in March if they cited moral obligations and refused to travel.
The ECB do not want to tour but need specific government advice not to go to avoid the stiff ICC sanctions. But Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the government did not like the idea of the tour but did not believe the English game should be bankrupted by International Cricket Council penalties if it was called off.
In a reply to his conservative counterpart Michael Ancram, Straw wrote: “We fully understand the very difficult decision the ECB has to take, particularly in the light of the ICC’s meeting in Auckland in March.
“This meeting appears to have given the ECB a choice between a tour which is difficult to defend on moral grounds and financial penalties which might bankrupt the game.
“I do not like the idea of an England team touring Zimbabwe any more than you do, but I do not believe that the future of English cricket should be put in jeopardy as a result of the failure of others to acknowledge the appalling situation there.”
Ancram had suggested a new government statement might allow the ECB to claim to the ICC they were being pressured into pulling out. But Straw said the government had no powers to ban any other sporting organization from touring Zimbabwe or any other country.
He added in the letter: “There is no evidence that any ministerial statement would be sufficient for the International Cricket Council to allow the ECB to postpone the tour. “In those circumstances, I do not believe it would be right that the British taxpayer should have to carry the financial liability which could flow from cancellation of the tour.”
The letter effectively ends any uncertainty about whether the tour will take place and ECB chairman David Morgan insisted yesterday that England have no choice but to tour.
Morgan said: “We have to look at what’s happening to international cricket at the moment. Sri Lanka are in Zimbabwe and Australia are planning to go. Why shouldn’t England go?
“Against that background, the board members and directors of the ECB we believe that, provided it is safe and secure, this tour has to go ahead.
Meanwhile, batsman Graham Thorpe is considering pulling out of England’s tour of Zimbabwe if it goes ahead in October. Thorpe told Radio Five Live: “I don’t agree with what is going on in Zimbabwe but I am a cricketer. As the clock ticks more questions get asked and all you can do is be honest about it. I can’t definitely say ‘I would tour’.”
Scandalous Confrontation in Zimbabwe Cricket
Meanwhile, a physical incident between Zimbabwe national selector Stephen Mangongo and director Ozias Bvute has caused a scandal in Zimbabwe cricket, it emerged yesterday.
The incident happened outside ZCU Chairman Peter Chingoka’s executive rooms at Harare Sports Club just after the fifth and final One-Day International between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka on Thursday.
There were several officials, guests and security staff standing nearby who watched in astonishment at what was certainly some heavy pushing and shoving between the two men. One ZCU official, who did not want to be named, said that he was told by several different people who were there that punches had been thrown. Witnesses at the scene said that the argument between Mangongo and Bvute was about selection of the team for the first Test against Sri Lanka, which starts here on Thursday next week.
It centered on whether the striking white players, who were due to return to practice, would take the majority of team places. Mangongo thought it should be about eight, according to those standing nearby, and Bvute advocated not more than three or four.
Australia’s Betting Deal to Keep Eye on Corruption
In Sydney, Australian cricket authorities have come to an agreement with a British Internet betting exchange which they said would enable them to monitor corruption and match-fixing.
Cricket Australia said its understanding with Betfair means it can now fully investigate any suspected breach of its gambling rules by players, officials or administrators.
Betfair offers Internet sports betting to registered users — but every detail of the bets is fully tracked, as are the movements of all funds. “Previously there was nothing with any teeth that would allow us to investigate, we would be reliant on people’s honesty,” a CA spokesman said yesterday.
