England's flight to Harare cancelled

[Barney Rubble]

Apparently the ECB and the players have asked the ICC if the failure to grant accreditation to some members of the British media constitutes an adequate reason to pull out of the tour, and talks are ongoing between the ECB, ICC and ZCU. The England players are staying in Johannesburg while the situation is resolved.

It's looking like there's a possibility the tour may now not go ahead - a good thing in my book. Regardless of the cricketing consequences, the moral decision not to go to Zimbabwe is not something to be taken lightly, although it is clear that no-one would advocate what goes on there. However, Henry Olonga has said today that he feels England would be "isolated by the world cricket community" if they didn't tour the country.

In a situation such as this, I believe it's time the England cricketers did what their footballers have never been able to do - take a stand against something for reasons not involving their own interests. England's footballers tried to go on strike last year (for all those outside the UK) when they felt a fellow player had been mistreated after he missed a mandatory drug test (general consensus is that when a player claims he "forgot" a drug test, dropping him from the squad pending an investigation isn't too harsh); this was an attempt to stand up for what they thought was right.

If the England players did not go to Zimbabwe in response to the treatment of their journalist compatriots, it would be an attempt to stand up for what everyone thinks is right - that the media censorship which does not allow the full extent of Robert Mugabe's actions to be known by the outside world ends.

 

[Slow Love™]

Isn't Ehsan Mani an a$$wagon though? He's running around wringing his hands, saying, "Oooh, oooh, I wasn't expecting this!" and making noises like maybe England won't have to go there after all. Everything we've seen up to this point didn't shake his confidence at all? The man's a fool.

Tour's up in the air now - maybe it's even 50/50. 'Cause I really doubt that this journalist situation will be "fixed". I'll add that I also find it darkly hilarious that the ICC are "talking" to the ZCU about resolving this specific issue - would you normally talk to a cricketing body about governmental media censorship?

Says it all, really. And to think the ICC dismissed the claims of the rebel players as junk.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Well said.

 

[Langeveldt]

As i've said, the ICC have been on Mugabe and the ZCU's side all the way through this crisis, and now the egg on their faces is starting to show

 

[superkingdave]

from what ive seen on the news the ICC have replied to the ECB's letter, stating that non accreditation of journalist does not give grounds for England to miss the tour. Henry Olonga was in the studio on C4 news

 

[bryce]

it's back on....
Zimbabwe lifts ban on journalists

 

[Jono]

=-/

^ For me, that sums it all up really.

 

[Neil Pickup]

This has now reached the stage where it's well beyond utterly ridiculous.

There's so much which has been so badly handled by the UK Government and ICC chucking (sorry) the ECB around like a huge political doosra (sorry again). The tour has already flagged up the state of Zimbabwean cricket as a laughing stock.

Look out for a feature article once the tour's over.

 

[Sussexshark]

Neil - I cannot find a website for the merchant bankers who think the game of cricket is safe in their hands. Why is that? Am I not looking properly, or do they by some strange flashing sign in their collective stegosaurus-sized walnut realise that if they did have one (website, that is, not walnut!) it would have crashed through the sheer number of hits by people who DO care about the game and are looking to shame the bustards?

Whoops - silly me! Completely forgot Mani, Speed et al are totally shameless.

Look forward to the article.

Peter

PS:: Why not set up a website called Notthe ICC or something. Include all the coruscating criticism and wait to see if there would be a reaction. Nah! Waste of time! They can't read!!!

 

[telsor]

The problem that everyone keeps missing is that THE ICC HAS NO POWER.

*everything* it does, or wants to do has to be voted on by the member states boards who hide behind the anonymity of secret voting and happily hide away while people complain about the ICC not doing anything about <crisis of the moment>.

 

[Neil Pickup]

http://www.icc-cricket.com/ is the ICC site

 

[Slow Love™]

The problem that everyone keeps missing is that THE ICC HAS NO POWER.

*everything* it does, or wants to do has to be voted on by the member states boards who hide behind the anonymity of secret voting and happily hide away while people complain about the ICC not doing anything about <crisis of the moment>.

Not sure how this translates to "THE ICC HAS NO POWER." Even where ballots are concerned, you still have a system of binding decisions, post-1989 (as I've said previously in other threads, I'd prefer to see a return to a pre-89 ICC structure of "meetings and recommendations"). But in any case, in financial and commercial policy decisions (ie whether financial penalties are laid upon countries refusing to fulfil itinerary obligations), decisions are made by the Board of Directors.

Nevertheless, the fines you face if you don't complete your tour obligations are very real.

 

[Richard]

There's so much which has been so badly handled by the UK Government and ICC chucking (sorry) the ECB around like a huge political doosra (sorry again).

A political second, or other, one, eh?
Still, glad someone else thinks The ECB have been given an impossible situation and couldn't really have taken any other course of action than they have.

 

[telsor]

Not sure how this translates to "THE ICC HAS NO POWER." Even where ballots are concerned, you still have a system of binding decisions, post-1989 (as I've said previously in other threads, I'd prefer to see a return to a pre-89 ICC structure of "meetings and recommendations"). But in any case, in financial and commercial policy decisions (ie whether financial penalties are laid upon countries refusing to fulfil itinerary obligations), decisions are made by the Board of Directors.

Nevertheless, the fines you face if you don't complete your tour obligations are very real.

OK, allow me to clarify.

The ICC only has the power the boards give it, which tends to be very specific and limited. Anything that happens outside that requires the ICC to go back to the boards for a new mandate.

Specifically to this case, the ICC has no discretionary power to allow the ECB to cancel it's tour.