Counties Blame Blair for Tour Farce

The refusal of the Labour government to instruct England to boycott their tour of Zimbabwe is blamed by a majority of county chief executives for cricket's months of indecision over the issue.

In a Guardian poll, 10 of the 18 chief executives said the government was most to blame for the endless shilly-shallying over whether to refuse to tour while Robert Mugabe remained in power.

The government preferred strong advice to an outright instruction because of the philosophy that sports bodies must be free to take their own moral decisions on whether to fulfil a tour. The foreign secretary Jack Straw will meet the ECB next week with the possibility of a subsequent Commons debate on Zimbabwe.

But the poll supports the belief that the lack of an iron fist was resented by cricket's leading officials, as only a firm government instruction could protect the ECB from the threat of a one-year suspension.

One chief executive said: "The government just didn't get it. They were petrified of being seen to be dictatorial, even though we wanted them to be. The fact that a government order might have damaged London's Olympic bid probably made it worse. They left us in the lurch."

The counties' support for individuals wishing to follow their conscience is unwavering. Sixteen of the 18 chief executives supported the players' right to choose, and the other two were just exercising a little mid-afternoon pomposity.

Australia have lost only Stuart MacGill from their tour of Zimbabwe; England could lose a hatful.

The ECB's chief executive, Tim Lamb, and chairman, David Morgan, will be relieved at the poll findings. Only one county chief executive reserved most wrath for the ECB hierarchy, accusing them of "fannying around".

Media criticism has been fierce over the failure of Morgan and Lamb's leadership, but in county boardrooms they are seen, to some extent, as the victims of outside forces.

Six chief executives identify the International Cricket Council as mainly responsible for the confusion.

And if India is regularly blamed for anti-British sentiments within the ICC, its Australian chief executive Mal Speed is seen by many as pandering to it. Australia shocked England by supporting a regulation to make non-fulfilment of tours punishable by heavy fines or suspension, and within the counties the sense of betrayal is tangible.

The counties are almost united in the belief that Des Wilson was right to resign from the ECB management committee after his Zimbabwe policy paper, which called for moral factors to be considered in deciding whether a tour should go ahead, was rejected.

Many counties resented the leaking of the Wilson paper to a select group of anti-tour journalists before the chief executives had seen the report.

Others were more sympathetic, but regarded Wilson's resignation as inevitable when he refused to bow to what one county chief executive called "political inevitability".

Why the ECB has refused Wilson's plea that they should, at the very least, "tour to rule" - black armbands, no official receptions - has still not been satisfactorily explained.

The mood within committee rooms is of a tour that will be fulfilled with a heavy heart, of the overriding need to protect English cricket's financial future, and of a game that has been let down by the government and betrayed by its friends.

Attitudes to Zimbabwe

Each of the first-class county chief executives were asked:

Should the England tour to Zimbabwe go ahead?

Yes 17

No comment

Who do you blame most for the current tour crisis?

Government 10

ICC

ECB

No comment

Should Des Wilson have resigned?

Yes 12

No comment

No

If one of your players was selected to tour then withdrew for moral reasons, would you support him?

Yes 16

No comment

<I>*One chief executive could not be contacted for his opinion</I>

<I>Additional reporting by Andy Wilson, Lawrence Booth and Mike Averis</I>