Government 'will not leave the ECB in the lurch'

	Lord Malloch-Brown: his comments were not a reflection of government policy © Getty Images

Less than 24 hours after Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister, told the House of Lords that the government would not bar Zimbabwe from playing in England in 2009, there were contradictory comments coming from inside Westminster.

Malloch-Brown told the Lords that the final decision was with the ECB and "it is not for us to intervene directly in this matter". That provoked an angry response from Kate Hoey, the former sports minister and chair of the parliamentary all-party committee on Zimbabwe, who told Cricinfo: "It does not seem to reflect the views of Downing Street earlier this year. It would be a travesty if we gave visas to any Zimbabwean cricket team to tour and I want to see the prime minister clarify the situation."

Within hours a source close to the prime minister reaffirmed the government's stance on Zimbabwe. "We will not leave the ECB in the lurch and expect them to take the responsibility," he was quoted as saying by The Times. "We will talk to them over the next few weeks over how this is done, but we are against it and the world will know we are against it."

Government sources looked to distance themselves from Malloch-Brown's comments, insisting he was merely giving the letter-of-the-book foreign office position as opposed to the view held by Gordon Brown.

If the government refused to allow the Zimbabwe side to tour in 2009 then the ECB will avoid being fined by the ICC as it will be something out of their control. However, it is increasingly likely that Zimbabwe will be allowed to take part in the ICC World Twenty20 later in the summer as barring Zimbabwe then would almost inevitably lead to the tournament being moved elsewhere.

While there is no hurry for any decision regarding the 2009 series, the ECB will want a clear indication soon to allow it to make alternative arrangements.

The ICC is also likely to ask for clarification whether Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, will be allowed to attend its annual meeting in London in June. He was refused a UK visa in October because of what government sources said was his close links to the Mugabe regime, and were he not to be allowed into London to attend the June get-together, it may mean that would also need to be moved to a country where he was welcome.