Drop thoughts of World Cup boycott, says ZCU chief

The head of Zimbabwe cricket, Peter Chingoka, is urging England and Australia to honour their "obligation" to the International Cricket Council and call off any possible boycott of World Cup matches in the country.

The governments of both England and Australia have urged their respective cricket boards to abandon scheduled World Cup matches in Zimbabwe in protest at the regime of president Robert Mugabe.

But Chingoka, chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, believes his country deserves to stage the games after spending large sums of money preparing facilities - and warns that thousands of people would lose much-needed income should a boycott take place.

"Over the last two years we have put in a lot of effort to make sure we can get our two venues up to standard," Chingoka told the BBC. "Altogether structural improvement and the setting up of an office has cost 400 million Zimbabwe dollars (#4.5million) and we believe we deserve a return on that investment.

The (World Cup) organisation employs about 220 people, so the extended family means at least a 1,000 mouths are fed through cricket. Indirectly I would guess, all told, a total of 5,000 people are fed through cricket. They need this opportunity and they need the World Cup to be a success.

"All the counties have an obligation to make sure that the International Cricket Council provides 54 matches at the World Cup. I am sure there will be maximum and honest endeavour to make sure we have the six matches played in Zimbabwe as scheduled."

Chingoka insisted that it is safe for England fans to travel to Zimbabwe, and he is not expecting tickets to to be available for long.

"We've had the Barmy Army follow the England team in Zimbabwe, they seem to have had a really good time then and nothing has changed since then. With the exchange rate as it is it is the place to be," he insisted.

"We have got massive support and we are very confident that when we start selling the tickets next week we will sell the tickets very rapidly. A certain percentage of the seating capacity will be reserved for children to come in free and watch a global event."

Chingoka also feels that African cricketers would miss out if their once-in-a-lifetime chance to play in a World Cup on home ground was torpedoed by politics.

"It is a chance for African teams to have the opportunity of playing sport at its pinnacle on home soil," he said.

"Cricket is a big employment opportunity for professional cricketers who would not have another opportunity to play at the top on home soil bearing in mind I don't think Africa will get another World Cup in the next 20 years.

"All cricketers - black and white - deserve an opportunity to play in this World Cup in Zimbabwe."