The England and Wales Cricket Board is confronted with a moral dilemma over whether to ignore government advice and play World Cup matches in Zimbabwe.

In a meeting with the board, the UK Government has said it will not pay compensation if the England cricket team boycotts the games.

BBC News Online looks at differing opinions over the stand-off.

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Cathy Buckle, a Zimbabwean farmer evicted two years ago

I haven't met anybody who thinks that the English cricketers should come to Zimbabwe.

There's no bread, no milk no flour no sugar and no cooking oil.

There are six million people facing starvation in the coming winter.

If your cricketers come and play cricket here now it makes a mockery of everything Cathy Buckle

Inflation is now 170% and two million people have been forced to leave this country for economic or political reasons.

If the cricketers come here it gives legitimacy to our government.

For three years the UK, USA and Australia have been saying that they didn't recognise our election and our government. They've imposed sanctions and frozen the assets of our leaders.

If your cricketers come and play cricket here now it makes a mockery of everything.

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Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for culture, media and sport

"There are no grounds for the government to compensate from public sources any losses that the ECB may suffer if they now withdraw from their match in Zimbabwe.

They were aware of the security situation. They were aware of the likely deterioration in the security situation as long ago as the beginning of July, before they confirmed their intention to compete in Harare. "

The government's attitude to the Mugabe regime has been made absolutely clear Tessa Jowell

They were also aware of the likely reaction of government ministers at that time.

The government's attitude to the Mugabe regime and the deteriorating civil and humanitarian situation has been made absolutely clear.

The ECB doesn't exist in a world in which that information is unavailable to them.

There is a very easy way out of this that the matches to be played in Zimbabwe are relocated to South Africa. It is, afterall, South Africa's World Cup.

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Marcus Trescothick, England batsman

There's a lot of paper talk going on back at home. But we haven't seen much of it over here [Australia].

This is obviously a major concern for the counties back home. Questions have been asked already of us. It's not really for us to decide.

It needs to be taken out of our hands to let the proper authorities deal with it. It can be quite a major distraction for us.

We're playing in a serious one-day competition where we have to keep our eyes firmly on what we're doing and not worry about what's happening back in England and in Zimbabwe.

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Peter Anderson, chief executive of Somerset Cricket Club

Our club supports the board. All the board is saying is that if you are asking us to boycott Zimbabwe then, just like any other business, we have to be compensated.

I don't think it's true that the ECB knew of the risks beforehand. This is a political matter and the government is elected to make political decisions.

But it's really the ICC's problem. It's their competition. They are the World Cup organising body.

We have different governments saying different things about Zimbabwe. The nations participating in this situation should really come together and take a common line. If they did that then the ICC would take notice