By Phil Mercer BBC correspondent in Sydney

MacGill pulled out of the tour for "moral reasons"

Australia's cricketers have set off on a controversial tour of Zimbabwe, despite the government urging the team not to go on moral grounds.

Canberra has been a vocal critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Australian spin bowler Stuart MacGill has withdrawn from the tour because of moral reasons.

Their opponents are in chaos and are still without 15 leading white players after a row over the sacking of captain Heath Streak.

Cricket Australia has insisted the troubled African nation is safe for the tour to go ahead.

The Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, has admitted that uncertainty surrounding the trip both on and off the field has been ever present.

Ponting has said his players are simply sportsmen, not politicians, and they had a duty to promote the game of cricket around the world.

Stuart MacGill saw things very differently. He pulled out of the squad, objecting to playing Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe on moral grounds.

There are suggestions here that other Australian players privately share MacGill's concerns and are touring reluctantly.

'Farcical'

Their month-long stay in Africa could be very one-sided.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has cancelled the contracts of fifteen of the country's best players in a row over the sacking of captain Heath Streak.

One newspaper here in Sydney said the tour was shaping up to be "the most farcical and pointless in Australia's history".

But coach John Buchanan warned: "I think if any side goes on tour with that state of mind, they are vulnerable.

"Our job is to go there, get ourselves prepared to play the best cricket we can and then the results should always look after themselves."

The tourists begin their campaign with a three-day match against Zimbabwe A starting on Monday in the capital, Harare.