By Martin Gough

Henry Olonga is playing against former team-mates as celebrity side Lashings take on the Red Lions, a team of Zimbabwe exiles, in the first match of their tour.

Olonga says his former team-mates could have avoided the sack

Despite his black armband protest more than a year ago at the "death of democracy" in Zimbabwe, the fast bowler is surprisingly reluctant to throw his support behind the venture.

"I don't endorse or support the tour, I just think it's a great way for them to stick together," he says in non-committal fashion.

"A lot of them have lost their careers and it's a very uncertain time for them."

Three months after 14 players refused to appear for their country after Heath Streak was dismissed as captain, 11 of them are in action in south London.

Their mission statement is to play matches "in an atmosphere of fun and frivolity", to get away from the political manoeuvrings that have filled their time since April.

Despite all they have been through, it is another attempt to claim that sport and politics should not mix.

The actions of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union over the last three years in alienating white players have shown this to be far from the case.

"The administrators of the ZCU are for all intents and purposes working along lines one can deem to be political," Olonga tells BBC Sport.

"The kinds of decisions they're making don't make sense.

"If they wanted the best team to be on the field they wouldn't have sacked all these players and the kind of results the team has turned in of late wouldn't have happened."

We could certainly play some of the first-class sides if they were interested Stuart Carlisle

Compared to the current Zimbabwe national team, which has its Test status suspended in May to save a thrashing by Australia, this XI is superior.

But it is easy to forget that this was the team Matthew Hayden plundered a world record 380 against last year.

When it was a Test side it was below the required standard too, and several more players have left since to take up Australian state contracts.

The Red Lions XI that takes the field is all-white. In a country with a population of 12.9m, generous estimates put the white proportion at 70,000

"Three or four black players were interested in joining us a couple of months ago but the ZCU were quick to put pressure on them," explains team captain Stuart Carlisle.

There could have been different ways of showing their solidarity for Heath Henry Olonga

The fun and frivolity come to the fore as a Lashings side featuring West Indies greats Courtney Walsh and Sir Vivian Richards contrive to tie the match on the final ball.

Carlisle believes the Zimbabwe team can be reunited next year if the trouble-makers at the ZCU are weeded out in an arbitration process put in place by the International Cricket Council.

If not, he says, this touring side could travel the world.

"This is a trial period for us. If arbitration doesn't come through, or isn't effective, we've got other players at home.

"We could certainly play some of the first-class sides, some counties and state sides, if they were interested."

Olonga gives the impression he feels the tourists are a little na�ve.

RED LIONS TOUR Wed, 14 July: tied with Lashings Wimbledon CC Fri, 16 July: v Zimbabwe XI KCS, Wimbledon Sun, 18 July: Zimbabwe Braai Walkabout, Wimbledon Wed, 21 July: v Allan Lamb XI Stowe School Fri, 23 July: Meet the players Walkabout, Shepherds Bush Sun, 25 July: v Select XI Blossomfield, Birmingham Wed, 28 July: v Select XI Henley CC Fri, 30 July: Tony Oates Memorial match Cuckfield, East Sussex

"There could have been different ways of showing their solidarity for Heath in a way that didn't result in drastic action being taken against them," he says.

"They ended up being in breach of contract, which gave the ZCU every right to fire them.

"Heath dug himself a hole and they jumped in with him."

Meanwhile, the row about 15 players not getting to play Test cricket has obscured the debate over the regime of President Robert Mugabe.

The pressure put on England not to play in Harare during the World Cup, and Olonga's armband, followed reports of torture and mass starvation.

Asked what he thinks the solution will be, Olonga immediately talks about this, rather than the fate of the Red Lions.

"One of the solutions is the due process of democracy being allowed to prevail - free and fair elections for a start," he explains.

"If those fall into place everything else does - the independence of the judiciary, freedom of speech and the media, opening up the airwaves."

Cricket, he believes, is "a small part of the jigsaw puzzle".