England will tour - but would prefer not to

Tim Lamb: 'We would prefer not to tour, and the players will go with heavy hearts' © Getty Images

Tim Lamb, the ECB's chief executive, admitted that England will agree to tour Zimbabwe this autumn, but added that the players would go "with heavy hearts". It is the first time that any senior board official has admitted that the trip will only take place because of threatened penalties by the ICC.

Reacting to the news that there was going to be a debate in the House of Commons on the subject, Lamb acknowledged that the only measure acceptable to the ICC - a ban by the government - was constitutionally impossible.

"A debate is being considered, but the government's position is they have no legal powers to prevent us," Lamb said. "We would prefer not to tour, and the players will go with heavy hearts."

The ECB is due to meet with Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, on May 4. The government's opposition to the trip has already been tabled, and even if parliament passed a vote condemning the tour, that would be unlikely to satisfy the ICC, which demands nothing short of a government ban.

"They can't confiscate the players' passports. Cricket is not state-run in England like it is alleged to be in Zimbabwe," Lamb told the BBC. "We have a lot of sympathy with [the government's] position that they don't have the power to instruct us not to go."

But, he continued, the potential financial penalties left the ECB without any room for manouvre. "The downside and fallout from us not going could have a catastrophic effect on the fabric of the game in England and Wales. Any country that is in breach [of the ICC agreement] is liable for suspension."