Statement by Tim Lamb, ECB Chief Executive

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you for coming to Lord's today.

As you are all aware, there has been a Special Meeting of the ECB's Management Board this morning to discuss England's ICC World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare on 13th February. It was a very detailed and thorough meeting and all the issues were fully debated and considered.

As I think is widely recognised, the ECB Management Board has been confronted with an extremely difficult situation, not of our own making.

The position of the Board has, throughout this public debate, been totally clear and consistent. The ECB is not a political body and we do not take decisions on that basis. We are not, of course, immune to, or unaware of, what is happening in the wider world, but we do not believe that it is our role to make subjective moral judgements about the various regimes in the different cricket-playing nations.

These are matters for elected Governments to consider and take a decisive and early lead. They are not matters for sports administrators.

However, that is not to say we do not care about these issues.

We are fully aware of what is happening in Zimbabwe and we do not in any way condone the policies and actions of the political regime in that country. However, we do not believe that the cancellation of one cricket match in Zimbabwe will make any difference to the leaders of that regime.

The ECB has always found it perverse and inequitable that we have been asked to make an isolated and purely symbolic gesture by withdrawing from this match. Sport, sadly, is once again being used a political tool to fill the policy vacuum that seemingly exists. Consider these facts:

There are over 300 British companies currently trading in and with Zimbabwe; British Airways - the national carrier - flies to Harare twice a week; there are no wholesale economic or trading sanctions against Zimbabwe and no universal sporting sanctions have been applied, unlike in the case of South Africa in the past; Britain still maintains diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe; and no decision has been taken to date to expel Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.

But, despite this, cricket and the ECB in particular is still being asked to make a unique and unilateral sacrifice and pull out of this fixture. And, we are being asked to make this gesture with only four weeks to go before the ICC World Cup begins, despite the fact that it was known that this particular match was scheduled to be played in Harare as far back at October 2001.

One wonders why it was acceptable for Zimbabwe's athletes to parade around the City of Manchester Stadium during last summer's Commonwealth Games. Apparently, it wasn't wrong then for Britain to be engaging with Zimbabwean sportsmen and women. Why is it now?

We have not been elected to take decisions of a political nature. Our primary responsibility is to safeguard the future of cricket in England and Wales and indeed within the wider international cricket fraternity, including of course Zimbabwe where the national cricket union is a fully multi-racial and apolitical organisation.

From the tone of my remarks you will have almost certainly deduced that the ECB Management Board has this morning decided that we are going to honour our commitment to play Zimbabwe in Harare on 13th February. In fact the decision of the Board was unanimous.

I have already outlined what our general thinking is on this issue, but there are other factors that have been taken into account by the Board in coming to this decision.

I have previously referred to the patent unfairness of cricket and the ECB in particular being expected to make what would amount to a purely symbolic gesture when there are so many more meaningful ways in which the British Government, the Commonwealth and the international community could express its displeasure at what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Moreover, I would reiterate that the cancellation of one cricket match will not make the slightest bit of difference to the Mugabe regime or in any way lessen the economic and political turmoil in Zimbabwe.

Even if we were to make a unilateral gesture and withdraw from our match, there are still another five World Cup matches which are due to take place in the country. Unless it is for safety and security reasons, Zimbabwe will not be deprived of its opportunity to co-host the World Cup in accordance with an agreement that was arrived at as far back as 1994.

Crucially, the ECB has consistently emphasised that withdrawing from the match would put us in breach of our contractual commitments to the ICC. This could expose us to the risk of unlimited damages which could have devastating financial consequences for cricket and have a ruinous effect on the fabric of the game in England and Wales. We are the national summer sport, but we are also a commercial organisation, with a relatively modest annual turnover and we simply cannot afford to absorb the sort of financial losses that might arise from any decision to withdraw from this match.

As you know, we have put our case to Government but, despite effectively asking us to withdraw from this match in the national interest, they have refused to entertain the notion of compensating us out of the national purse. A position that contrasts, very markedly, with that of the Australian Government, who have taken a much more understanding view.

However, one positive aspect of our recent meeting with the Government was that we told Ministers of our determination to deny the Mugabe regime the opportunity to exploit our presence in Harare. We will not take part in any ceremonial activities that could imply any support for the regime or be used as a propaganda platform.

Put into perspective, playing this match in Harare does not mean that we are endorsing the Mugabe regime any more than playing in Pakistan means we are endorsing military rule in preference to democracy.

Those who say otherwise might ponder whether the Government and certain sections of the media will deem it equally reprehensible for British athletes to participate in the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

The past few weeks have been very difficult ones for cricket. We fully understand the high emotions and strong feelings that have been aroused about our intention to play this match in Zimbabwe. We hope that the World Cup will be an uplifting occasion and source of pleasure and pride for many Zimbabweans. Sport alone does not have the ability to solve political problems but it can sometimes help to bring people together.

The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup will be a wonderful sporting spectacle in a continent desperate to have something to celebrate - and England intends to play its full part in accordance with the contractual obligations that we signed up to many months ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the ECB's statement.