Cricket: England team ordered not to fly to Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG - England were ordered to stay in South Africa rather than fly to Zimbabwe on Wednesday after the Harare government barred most British media from covering their five-match tour.

In London, the British Foreign Office summoned the Zimbabwean charge d'affaires to express its "deep concern" that the Harare government had denied access to British journalists.

Team spokesman Andrew Walpole told reporters that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman David Morgan had instructed the team to stay in Johannesburg "pending further discussions with the Zimbabwean authorities".

At a stopover at Johannesburg airport, England coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Michael Vaughan met Richard Bevan, chief executive of England's Professional Cricketers' Association.

Bevan said the England team would also meet Morgan, who is currently in Zimbabwe. It was unclear whether the team would fly to Harare on Thursday.

The first of the five one-day internationals is due to be played in Harare on Friday.

"The likelihood is that David will stay in Zimbabwe but we are expecting (ECB director of cricket) John Carr to join us tomorrow," Walpole said.

The majority of British media organisations hoping to cover the tour, including the BBC, were told on Tuesday they had been denied accreditation by the Harare government.

Applications by other organisations including Reuters appear to have been successful.

Earlier England asked the head of the International Cricket Council (ICC) whether Zimbabwe's decision to bar the media gave the ECB grounds to cancel the tour.

"The acting chief executive of the ECB, Hugh Morris, has emailed ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed and asked if the Zimbabwe government's action constitutes an acceptable reason for non-compliance with the tour," Walpole said.

Speed is in Asia and has so far made no response to the ECB request. However, ICC president Ehsan Mani said: "I'm very concerned and very disappointed. We are trying very hard to have this decision (by Zimbabwe) reversed.

"Now is not the time to call it (the tour) off, it's the time to put the journalists into the country."

Morgan plans to meet Zimbabwe cricket chief Peter Chingoka "to try and put pressure on the government to have this decision overturned", Walpole said in Windhoek.

England played warm-up games in Namibia before leaving to fly via Johannesburg to Harare.

Under the ICC's Future Tours Programme, tours can only be cancelled on the advice of a government or because of overriding security and safety worries.

The ECB could risk a US$2 million ($2.83 million) ICC fine and suspension from the international game if England pull out for any other reason.

Last year England pulled out of a World Cup one-day match in Zimbabwe, citing security concerns.

The British government had said it cannot instruct the ECB to cancel the tour. Sports minister Richard Caborn repeated on Wednesday: "We haven't got the power to intervene."

Later in the day Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane called in a Zimbabwean senior diplomat and said British diplomats were trying to have the media ban overturned.

"Our embassy in Harare is also making representations. The England and Wales Cricket Board has been in discussions with the Zimbabwean authorities, including the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. We are in contact with the ECB and support these efforts.

"The government of Zimbabwe's actions are further evidence of its refusal to allow the international and domestic media to operate freely in Zimbabwe."

Players who decided not to continue with the Zimbabwe tour would not face sanctions from the ICC, Morgan said.

Top strike bowler Steve Harmison boycotted the tour before the squad was announced and several players, including captain Michael Vaughan, have aired reservations.

"I think it's very wrong -- the media is part of our set-up as a touring team," said England's Zimbabwe-born coach Duncan Fletcher.

Zimbabwe Cricket said it could not comment on why its government turned down certain media applications.

"It is a statutory requirement that a journalist wishing to come on assignment to Zimbabwe should apply for clearance from the Zimbabwe Department of Information and Publicity to be accredited by the Media and Information Commission," Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman Lovemore Banda said.

"Zimbabwe Cricket cannot comment on statutory requirements."

- REUTERS