West Indies assess Zimbabwe security

A senior member of the West Indies Cricket Board is in Zimbabwe assessing the security situation in the country ahead of a scheduled tour next month.

There is particular interest in the arrangements as the West Indies were forced to cancel a proposed A-team tour in July after a number of players refused to travel to the country after receiving information from contacts within and close to the country.

Originally the November tour was to involve Test and ODIs, but Zimbabwe's continuing self-imposed suspension from Test cricket means that only one-day matches are now on the itinerary. If the WICB fails to honour its commitments under the ICC's Future Tours Programme then it faces a fine in excess of US$2 million.

Tony Howard, the cricket operations manager of the WICB, downplayed the security concerns when questioned by the Zimbabwe Independent, saying his visit was only a "normal pre-tour" assessment. He accompanied by a Canadian-based security expert, ex-Zimbabwean Darren Maughan. The pair have met with home affairs minister Kembo Mohadi and are due to Augustine Chihuri,the commissioner of police.

"We are not here to assess the security situation in Zimbabwe as such, but on a normal pre-tour assessment," Howard told the newspaper. "Security is only one aspect of our mission here and that's why I have a security expert travelling with me."

A teams from India, South Africa and Sri Lanka have all toured Zimbabwe recently, and while none have had any security issues, there have been problems with accommodation and the availability of food. Zimbabwe continues to suffer from major shortages.

If the tour is to go ahead then it will need a major about-turn from the West Indies Players' Association. Ahead of the scrapped A-team tour, WIPA was very much against the tour taking place on both security and moral grounds.

But since then Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA's chief executive, has been invited onto the WICB board and so he would have to change his views or oppose the rest of the executive. If he went down the latter route then he would possibly be in a situation where he was wearing a WIPA hat to advise his players not to tour while being part of a board that was insisting they should.

If it does proceed then it is likely that the revised tour will include two four-day matches against a full-strength Zimbabwe side as well as five ODIs.