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Zimbabwe cricketers may avoid ICC ban

01/07/2008

Momentum appears to be shifting in favour of Zimbabwe in the cricketing world, ahead of a crucial meeting in Dubai tomorrow.

Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) will gather to vote on whether to approve moves to ban Zimbabwe's participation in the June 2009 World Twenty 20 tournament, to be held in England.

Last week ICC president-elect suggested he was in favour of such a ban at a press conference at the Oval while the British government has announced its own ban on Zimbabwe touring England for the preceding one-day internationals next summer.

Now, however, other members of the cricket community are shifting their stance in favour of Zimbabwe.

The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Niranhan Shah, has said "there is no reason to remove Zimbabwe" while Pakistan also seems reluctant to take action.

It remains to be seen whether the ICC's members will back the motion tabled by its current president, Ray Mali.

Those opposing the motion believe the current political situation in Zimbabwe, where incumbent president Robert Mugabe won an election by intimidating the opposition party into withdrawing its candidate, deserves linking the previously distant sport and politics.

If they do not the strenuous efforts of Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka to separate his country's sport from its politics will be rewarded.

He has accused the ICC of setting double standards and discrimination, while pointing out that other sporting bodies have chosen not to act against the African country.