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Strauss hints at Zimbabwe boycott

11/06/2008

Andrew Strauss has dropped a hint that England's players will boycott a planned tour by Zimbabwe next year if the current political climate remains unchanged.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have scheduled two Tests and three one-day matches early next summer.

But Strauss has intimated that some players may use the visit of the Zimbabwean team to protest against the regime of Robert Mugabe, which has come in for widespread political criticism.

"It is something we are going to have to talk about," said the Middlesex batsman, who was part of the England squad that last played a series in Zimbabwe in 2004.

"We have felt in the past that there have been great opportunities for the government to show the strength of feeling that there is among the population as a whole.

"There was a feeling the last tour to Zimbabwe should not have gone ahead, and if it comes around again we will have to look at it."

Strauss said previous tours to Zimbabwe, which were controversial because of the political situation in Harare, had seen the players "left in the lurch by the ECB and the government".

"It has come down to personal preferences and there have been some tough decisions made," he continued, speaking during a panel discussion at Lord's after the Spirit of Cricket lecture delivered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"I think when we come round to the issue again we all hope that the political situation in Zimbabwe is very different."