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Vaughan: I nearly quit over Zimbabwe

10/10/2005

England captain Michael Vaughan has claimed that he was on the point of resigning over the controversial tour of Zimbabwe last year.

England eventually fielded a team for four one-day internationals in Zimbabwe, despite the government urging the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to cancel the tour owing to president Robert Mugabe's appalling human rights record.

The ECB faced a crippling fine of £1.1 million from the International Cricket Council (ICC) if the tour was cancelled and it has now emerged that Vaughan was put under intense pressure to go to Zimbabwe.

"I wasn't actually blackmailed into going, but I was pressured," he said.

"The rest would have been welcome…and I was disappointed that, despite our success, eventually our views counted for little.

"This was the first time I felt inclined to give up my position."

Vaughan told the Daily Mail that he saw chairman of selectors David Graveney to tell him he was happy to go back to being just a batsman and avoid the pressures that the controversial tour was placing on his shoulders.

But he realised later that if he had chosen not to go on the tour, his friend Ashley Giles would be made skipper and eight or nine other players would have considered quitting.

"My head was going round in circles," he said. "I had to bite my lip because somebody had to front up."

The farce over Zimbabwe is set to repeat the next time that England have a tour scheduled with the Mugabe-controlled country, since no official policy from the government or the ECB has been announced.


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