 |  It is for the ECB and not the government to make the decision about whether or not the team should tour |
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has acknowledged that England may have no option but to go ahead with their tour to Zimbabwe later this year. The England and Wales Cricket Board's collective hand is likely to be forced by the threat of reprisals from the International Cricket Council.
Mr Straw said there was a risk that cancelling the tour would put the future of English cricket in jeopardy.
But he ruled out the government paying any fine imposed by the ICC.
ECB chairman David Morgan believes England will be kicked out of international cricket for a "short, but very damaging period" if they scrap the tour.
"We have to look at what's happening to international cricket at the moment.
"Sri Lanka are in Zimbabwe and Australia are planning to go. Why shouldn't England go?
"Against that background, the board members and directors of ECB believe that, provided it is safe and secure, this tour has to go ahead," Morgan told BBC Five Live.
ECB officials are due to meet Mr Straw and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell next Thursday to discuss the tour.
And in a letter to conservative spokesman Michael Ancram, the foreign secretary indicated that he sympathised with the position the ECB are in following last month's ICC meeting in Auckland.
"This meeting appears to have given the ECB a choice between a tour which is difficult to defend on moral grounds and financial penalties which might bankrupt the game," he wrote.
"Later this month, the Australian cricket team is due to tour Zimbabwe and you will be aware of the statements made by the Australian government on this issue.
"Their opposition to the Mugabe regime - like ours - is beyond question. Yet they also believe that decisions about cricket tours must remain with the relevant cricketing authorities.
 England last toured Zimbabwe in October 2001 |
"I do not like the idea of an England team touring Zimbabwe any more than you do, but I do not believe the future of English cricket should be put in jeopardy as a result of the failure of others to acknowledge the appalling situation there."
Mr Straw said there was no evidence that an ministerial instruction to cancel the tour would be sufficient for the ICC to allow the tour to be cancelled.
"In those circumstances, I do not believe it would be right that the British taxpayer should have to carry the financial liability which could flow from the cancellation of the tour."
The ECB has made it clear that any player who refuses to make the tour will not have that decision held against them when future squads are picked.
Leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has opted out of Australia's forthcoming tour because he believes he could not do so and "maintain a clear consicience".
MMIX
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