Zimbabwe ask England to honour commitment

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) has renewed its plea for England to go ahead with their tour in November 2004. Peter Chingoka, chairman of ZCU, issued a statement after some reports in the media suggested that England might pull out of the series. "We are aware of media speculation concerning England's tour to Zimbabwe, but there has been no formal advice from the ECB to clarify the matter," he said. "Obviously we expect that the tour will go ahead."

Chingoka urged David Morgan, chairman of the ECB, to honour the commitment he had made last year. "In light of the uncertainty that appears to exist in England the ZCU has now written to David Morgan, asking him to urgently confirm the commitment he gave on behalf of the ECB to our Board of directors in Harare last March. That commitment was that England would fulfil its scheduled tour to Zimbabwe and those assurances were given to secure Zimbabwe's tour of the UK last summer.

"Having honoured our word that we would tour the UK we naturally expect England to reciprocate by touring Zimbabwe. There's no doubt that relations between the Boards and other nations were strained by England's refusal to play the World Cup game in Harare. It would be extremely disappointing from our point of view if England were to now review its position on this latest tour."

Zimbabwe successfully hosted five matches in the 2003 World Cup, but England had forfeited their game at Harare. Since the World Cup, West Indies played a full series comprising two Tests and five ODIs in Zimbabwe, while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia are all scheduled to tour the country before England's visit.

"There are many important things to consider with this situation, such as the question of the honour and spirit upon which bilateral series between countries are based," Chingoka reiterated. "Other factors that the ECB need to consider are the effect that cancellation of this tour would have on the development of the game in Zimbabwe, the unity of the ICC family of cricketing nations and the integrity of the Future Tours Programme that binds us together. We look forward to an early and positive response to our letter from Mr Morgan."