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Simply Not Cricket 29th December 2002 England captain Nasser Hussain
has demanded that the British government makes the final decision about sending
the team to Zimbabwe for the World Cup rather than leaving it to the cricket
authorities or players. Meanwhile, senior government figures are putting pressure
on English cricket's governing body, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB),
suggesting strongly that the government is opposed to the tour without insisting
that the team pull out. Writing in his column in the
Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Hussain said it was "ridiculous" to rely
on cricketers to make such a delicate political decision. Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe's regime has received widespread international criticism for its
controversial land reform programme, but cricket's world governing body ruled
earlier this month that that it was safe to play there. England are scheduled to play
Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13 in a World Cup Pool A match. MORAL JUDGEMENT Hussain wrote in the Sunday
Telegraph: "It is, yes, faintly ridiculous to suppose that the England
captain and management have the time to come to the informed moral judgement
which it is necessary to make about going to Zimbabwe. "I'm expected to make a
major political judgement on whether or not I should lead the England cricket
team to Zimbabwe or perhaps shake the president by the hand. "It must be right that the
decision is made at a higher level. "The government should set
up a body of some sort to make this moral decision on our behalf and we will
then happily abide by it." Officials at the British foreign
office issued a statement clarifying foreign secretary Jack Straw's opposition
to England playing in Zimbabwe. A British Foreign office
spokesman said: "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." Earlier on Saturday, British
cabinet minister Clare Short, the international development secretary,
criticised the decision to go as "deplorable and shocking". "An election (in Zimbabwe)
has been stolen and people are being starved because they dared to vote
freely," Short told reporters. "Our team plans to go to
Zimbabwe and play as though all is normal. I think they should not go. It is
like pretending everything is okay in Zimbabwe and it is not." Tim Lamb, the ECB's chief
executive, told the Observer newspaper: "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's some double standards
here. "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." Chairman of England selectors
David Graveney told the Mail on Sunday that he would be helping to pick the
15-man squad as planned next week and would not attempt to dissuade the players
from travelling to Zimbabwe. Each could make his own decision about going. But he added: "If I were
asked to go to Zimbabwe, I'd have to refuse. "I'm speaking purely as an individual. I'm not in a position to persuade others not to go and I don't think that would be right. But if somebody asked me, David Graveney, to visit Zimbabwe, I would say No." Reuters
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