SA tour to Zimbabwe to go ahead

South Africa's two-Test tour of Zimbabwe next month will go ahead as scheduled unless the South African government or the Zimbabwean cricket authorities advise the United Cricket Board otherwise.

There has been speculation that the tour might be jeopardised by fears for the safety of the South African team, but UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said this week that there were no plans to call the tour off.

Political unrest in Zimbabwe has dominated the front page of South African newspapers for several days, but although the situation appears have worsened recently, with confrontations between "war veterans" and mainly white commercial farmers, violence appears to be confined to rural areas.

Majola said that the UCB had asked the South African government for a briefing on the situation, but stressed that the tour would only be called off "on the advice of the South African government or the Zimbabwe Cricket Union".