Zimbabwe Hit England With Late Backtrack

Just when England imagined that the Zimbabwe issue had been settled, it has reared its head again. Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket's chairman, has been summoned to Dubai for talks with the ICC president, David Morgan, after the Zimbabwe board failed to endorse his agreement that the country would exclude itself from the World Twenty20 in England next year.

Chingoka's agreement that Zimbabwe would voluntarily withdraw from the tournament brought a successful end to three days of exhausting negotiations by the England and Wales Cricket Board at the ICC annual meeting last month but the Zimbabwe board has told Chingoka to clarify a number of points. If they backtrack on the deal either the ICC or the government may exclude them anyway - unless an agreement between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and the leader of the opposition MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, brings a softening of the government's stance.

The ECB management board will today decide whether England should compete in next month's Champions Trophy - but that will not be the end of the matter. If they do decide to withdraw, there will be no unilateral decision, but another bout of negotiations. The ECB would prefer to join the likes of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in a simultaneous decision and also have a statement of support from the Professional Cricketers' Association.

England's captain, Kevin Pietersen, refused to confirm that the players would prefer not to travel to Pakistan, but he said: "The board knows exactly the stance of the players. The players have said what they had to say. It is up to the board to make the decision. I am sure everything is going to be looked at."