England's tour tug-of-war continues
The England and Wales Cricket Board has finally received a letter from the Foreign Office outlining the government's position regarding October's scheduled tour of Zimbabwe
|
|
|
As was widely expected, the government has stopped short of actually saying that the tour cannot go ahead, but at least it has recommended that it doesn't - albeit in phrases carefully constructed so as not to offer anything which could be construed as direct advice - and so the ECB now has to hope that will be enough for them to be able to pull out without incurring any sanction from the ICC.
In the aftermath of the news about its new criteria for deciding whether tours should proceed, the ECB has been firmly reminded by the ICC that it has responsibilities and that moral objections are not a valid reason for scrapping a series. But governmental intervention is, as in the situation regarding India and Pakistan. There, it is at governmental level that a ban on the two sides has been made, and so the ICC has not interfered.
The ECB is now being squeezed from both sides. Its own escape route - Des Wilson's report - means that it has little choice but to call off the tour, unless it wants to attract a stinging public and sponsorship backlash; on the other hand the ICC are threatening financial penalties if it does pull out. The ECB ideally wanted the government to come down off the fence and give it firm direction, but the likelihood of that was always remote.
Yesterday, the ICC upped the ante, with a source suggesting that an England boycott would not only result in fines, but that it would also mean that the ECB would be liable for consequential loss. So, if as a result of not touring Zimbabwe four countries boycotted the ICC Champions Trophy, then the ECB would also be liable to pay for the cost of that.
Read in App
Elevate your reading experience on ESPNcricinfo App.