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Untitled Document
 ECB severs ties with Zimbabwe cricket
25th Jun 2008 21:03 IST
Agencies
The England and Wales Cricket Board today severed all ties with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and cancelled their tour of 2009 because of political unrest in that country.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons during PM's Questions in the afternoon that he did not want Zimbabwe to tour England next year.
"We want to insure that Zimbabwe does not tour England next year," Brown was quoted as saying by the 'BBC Sport' in London.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham conveyed Brown's message in a letter to the ECB, which put sanction on Zimbabwe Cricket with the immediate effect.
"All bilateral arrangements are suspended with Zimbabwe Cricket with immediate effect," said the ECB.
"We will call on other countries to join us in banning Zimbabwe," it added.
Zimbabwe are due to play two Tests and three one-dayers in England next year, as well as the World Twenty20 in June.
The ECB's decision came a day after Cricket South Africa - traditionally one of Zimbabwe's supporters in cricket - to severe its bilateral tied yesterday in the wake of the country's deepening political and economic turmoil.
The British government had been involved in discussions with the ECB over the situation in Zimbabwe for the past 18 months. But the withdrawal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from the second round of Zimbabwe's general election and reports of social unrest under Robert Mugabe's regime appear to have spurred the British government into action, the BBC reported. |
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