Anti-Mugabe protests likely at Riverside

Talks aimed at averting the possible disruption of the second npower Test at Chester-le-Street by anti-Mugabe demonstrators have broken down, raising the possibility that the inaugural Test at the Riverside ground might be tarnished by protests.

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), backed by the ground authorities, remains adamant that it will not give any concessions. The demonstrators have offered to guarantee that there will be no interruptions to the match itself if they are allowed to protest peacefully inside the ground.

The ECB justified its decision with the well-worn argument that the Zimbabwean side are not ambassadors of Robert Mugabe. The opponents of the tour continue to maintain that this is not the case.

Alan Wilkinson, the organiser of The Stop the Tour campaign, told the BBC that they wanted to be able to display their anger at the situation in Zimbabwe peacefully. "We believe this proposal, which we have put to Durham County Cricket Club, is acceptable," he said. "In return we would allow play to go on uninterrupted."

But Bill Midgley,Durham's chairman, was unconvinced, and shifted the responsibility back to the ECB. "Whilst this match is taking place at our ground it is not our match, it is an international match and comes under the ECB," he explained. "They have to have a say in this and so do the police. We have never taken issue with the message they [the demonstrators] are trying to put across, but we do believe there is an alternative way of doing it which will not disrupt cricket."

At Lord's there were two brief interruptions when banner-carrying protestors sauntered onto the pitch on the first day of the match. Even though there were protests outside the ground, they were peaceful and limited to the handing-out of leaflets and black armbands, and maintaining a barrage of whistles and drums.