The vexed issue of Zimbabwe will dominate the agenda at the International Cricket Council (ICC) six-day annual conference starting today after its tour of England next year was cancelled.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) called the tour off last week under instructions from the British Governmentafter the growing violence before yesterday's presidential election run-off.
Cricket South Africa has already suspended all bilateral programmes with its southern African neighbour.
South Africa's outgoing ICC president Ray Mali has placed the issue on the agenda for the two-day meeting of the ICC board, the highest decision-making body, starting on Wednesday.
The ICC has tentatively scheduled a news conference after the first day's proceedings.
Zimbabwe's national team have not played test cricket since January 2006 after the side were seriously weakened following a series of confrontations between players and the national administration.
In March, an independent audit found serious financial irregularities in the board's accounts but the ICC did not call for any sanctions, arguing there was no evidence of criminality and that no individuals had gained financially.
Differences among top administrators over Zimbabwe in the ICC became clear when chief executive Malcolm Speed was asked to go on leave until the end of his contract on July 4.
Any sanction against Zimbabwe could depend on the powerful Indian board, who have been traditional supporters.
Indian secretary has Niranjan Shah declined to comment.
The ICC will also discuss concerns over the future of test cricket after the explosion of interest in the Twenty20 game. Its cricket committee has made recommendations for preserving test cricket as the pinnacle of the sport.
The new Future Tours Programme, starting in 2012, and the concept of a test championship will also be discussed.
In April the ICC decided to move the annual conference out of its traditional venue at Lord's to allow all delegates to attend following visa problems for controversial Zimbabwe board chief Peter Chingoka.
England's David Morgan will take over as president and South African Haroon Lorgat as chief executive.
