The Zimbabwe Situation

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard joined British premier Tony Blair's call for a cricket World Cup boycott of Zimbabwe as the row over its co-hosting of the event intensified on Monday.

Zimbabwe chief government spokesman Jonathan Moyo responded by saying Britain and Australia wanted to keep "cricket white" by pulling out of matches there.

"If the British and the Australians want to keep cricket as a white and colonial sport, then they should do so alone because we are not interested in their rubbish," Moyo told the official Herald newspaper.

"This is obviously not about safety and security, it is just political mumbo-jumbo," Moyo added.

Zimbabwe received support on Monday from Pakistan, India and World Cup organiser Dr Ali Bacher of co-hosts South Africa while the Australian and English team captains have called for politicians, rather than players or administrators, to make the final decision.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had confirmed his government was opposed to England playing there but had no power to ban them and would leave the final decision to the English cricket board (ECB).

His spokesman added on Monday that ministers were ready to meet representatives of the ECB if they wanted to talk but said none had been scheduled. "Their door is open," he said.

Howard told Australia's Channel Nine television on Monday that the sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), should review its backing for Zimbabwe as hosts.

"You have appalling human rights abuses occurring in that country. You have a completely illegitimate, undemocratic, stolen government in Zimbabwe," he said.

"That was the most rigged election in years and that has been attested to by all manner of international opinion.

"This is not just Australia visiting Zimbabwe. If we take a decision in isolation from decisions of other governments then that can create a situation where you have one team playing and another team not.

"What I'm saying to the International Cricket Council is please look at this again. I am disappointed that they (ICC) took the decision they did... and I hope other governments, including the British government, say exactly the same thing."

Six of the 54 World Cup matches are scheduled for Zimbabwe. The competition, from February 9 to March 23, will mainly be staged in South Africa. Australia play Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on February 24 and England take on the Netherlands in Harare on February 13.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has received widespread international criticism for his controversial land reform programme amid a deteriorating political and economic situation.

But an ICC inspection of the country recently said it would be safe to play World Cup matches there and would not support a boycott on political grounds.

Australia captain Steve Waugh, in his post-match news conference after leading his side to a fourth consecutive victory in the Ashes Test series against England, said it was a difficult question and not one for the players.

"If John Howard is stepping in then the Australian Cricket Board will become involved and I think it's up to those people to make a decision. The players don't want to be involved in political decisions," Waugh said on Monday.

England captain Nasser Hussain repeated his stance that he felt it was a government decision.

Hussain said he would be meeting with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tim Lamb in Sydney later this week ahead of the fifth Test starting on Thursday to discuss the Zimbabwe situation.

"I've said quite openly that I would like the government and politicians in England to help probably make the decision for us," Hussain told a news conference.

"We're going to be ambassadors for our game and our country and we're going to this area and we know very little about the situation in Zimbabwe.

"It's a moral issue. It's not a safety issue. Should England or any other team be in Zimbabwe playing cricket? We certainly can't bury our heads in the sand.

Lamb later told Sky TV that the board had received unfair pressure to withdraw the team from Zimbabwe when other businesses operating there carried on without British government intervention.

ICC president Malcolm Gray refused to accept Howard's advice that the ICC should take a leading role.

"The ICC and, in general, sports administrators are not equipped or experienced or competent, nor have the mandate, to make political decisions," Gray told a news conference at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday.

"That is the role and responsibility of governments. Often over the years, governments and politicians have tried to push that responsibility on to sports administrators - the ICC will not accept that."

The ACB released a statement after Gray's news conference, indicating it would play in Bulawayo as planned.

"Our long-standing position as cricket administrators has been that we will go to Zimbabwe unless there are safety or security risks," ACB chief executive James Sutherland said.

"I was part of the recent ICC delegation which inspected safety and security issues in Zimbabwe and the ACB supports the subsequent ICC report finding that safety and security arrangements are appropriate."

On Sunday, Blair wrote to opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith spelling out the British government's stance.

"The Government's position is clear: the decision on whether England should play in Zimbabwe rests with the England and Wales Cricket Board - an independent sporting body," the Prime Minister wrote.

"There are no legal powers available to the Government to ban a sporting team from participation. However, in the light of the deteriorating political and humanitarian situation in the country, ministers have made clear that if the decision were for them, England should not play in Zimbabwe."

England, Namibia, India, Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan will play a match each in Zimbabwe.

Gray added that any team that refused to play matches in Zimbabwe would forfeit their points.

World Cup executive director Dr Bacher told reporters that while contingency plans would enable the games to be played in South Africa should the Zimbabwean venues be scrapped, he did not expect the various cricketing boards to make such a decision.

"I don't anticipate the ICC and those boards will boycott playing in Zimbabwe -- I believe they will stick with their earlier decision to play in Zimbabwe," the former South African Test captain said.

"If there is a decision for those teams not to go to Zimbabwe, that decision should be forthcoming from the Australian government."

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday it had not been advised by the government not to play in Zimbabwe.

According to PCB spokesman Samiul Hasan, Pakistan made a full tour of Zimbabwe last month and found nothing wrong with the security situation in either Harare or Bulawayo.

An Indian foreign ministry official told Reuters in New Delhi that there had been no discussion about India playing cricket in Zimbabwe during the World Cup as the country had no problems with the southern African country.

"It may be an important issue for Australia and England, but not for us," said the official, who did not want to be identified.

England's cricket authorities are being forced to walk a tightrope to avoid being sucked into a political storm over the World Cup match scheduled to be played in Harare against Zimbabwe on February 13th. Nevertheless, with senior government figures realising that once again sport can be used for political ends, the dangers for cricket become all too obvious.

While there is growing international outrage at the policies and behaviour of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, no attempt was made to stop England playing a series of one-day internationals in the country as recently as last year. Now, however, politicians appreciate that an event with the profile of the World Cup offers a far more prominent stage on which to make a statement.

Aware of the problems, the ICC sent a fact-finding delegation to Zimbabwe, including the countries that are scheduled to play World Cup matches there. The result was that they all signed up to continue with arrangements as they stood on the grounds of safety and security with the proviso that the ICC would monitor the situation in case of any deterioration.

The chief executive of the ICC, Malcolm Speed, has reiterated that those circumstances remain, despite increased political activity in the UK.

"We've talked to the ECB about this," he said. "The decision is that if England doesn't play because of political considerations, they will not receive any points from that match, in effect they will forfeit that match. If the situation deteriorated and it was unsafe for England to play, the points will be shared.

"I don't see it so much as a moral dilemma. A decision has been taken by the ICC board that the only factor to take into account is safety. We've done that, we've assessed the situation in Zimbabwe with regards safety and we've resolved to move forward.

"There have been a number of comments from members of the British government. What we've said consistently is that it's up to the politicians to make political decisions, we make our decisions based on sporting factors and we've done that.

"We've made our decision and the ECB have said, that from England's perspective, they will abide by that decision, so hopefully we can move forward.

"We can only make our decision based on cricketing considerations and sporting considerations. We have 84 member countries that come under all sorts of political regimes. We're aware of the political difficulties, we're aware of the economic difficulties, but they're factors that we don't take into account."

Speed's comments come after Downing Street and the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, commented on remarks made by Clare Short, the International Development Secretary. She said that England should refuse to play in Harare, adding that a decision to go would be "deplorable and shocking."

"An election has been stolen and people are being starved because they dared to vote freely," she said. "I think they should not go. It is like pretending everything is OK in Zimbabwe and it is not."

A spokesman from Number 10 said: "We have no power to order a team not to go. It is up to them but our advice is that they should not go."

A statement from the Foreign Office explained Mr Straw's view. "While it is not for us to tell the International Cricket Council or the England and Wales Cricket Board what to do, it is Mr Straw's personal view that it would be better if England didn't go.

"We ask the cricketing authorities to reflect on the humanitarian and political crisis that is happening in Zimbabwe and the fact that the situation could deteriorate over the coming weeks."

Interestingly, chairman of the England selectors, David Graveney, has stated that he would refuse to go if he was asked to play in Zimbabwe. This is even though he managed a rebel tour to South Africa during the apartheid years.

The chief executive of the ECB, Tim Lamb, has made his stance quite clear. "We don't believe it's our position as a sporting body to make political judgements about the appropriateness of regimes in host countries for playing cricket.

"Cricket is a soft target and is being treated differently to the 300 other businesses which continue to trade with Zimbabwe which ministers aren't discouraging. There are some double standards here."

Writing on the subject in his Sunday Telegraph diary, England captain Nasser Hussain takes a line that would not disgrace professional politicians. "It must be right that the decision is made at a higher level than sport, by a government body.

"Even if it means that England will forfeit points by not playing in Zimbabwe, that would be willingly done if the Government believes it right that England should not play.

"Cricket, and qualifying for the Super Six stage of the World Cup, comes a long way down the list of what is important, especially compared with people starving.

"Such a government body was needed last winter, it is needed now and it will be needed again as there are sure to be similar situations which come up in future."