Poms Ease Ashes Fears

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Poms ease Ashes fears
FoxSports
April 30, 2004

ENGLISH cricket chief Tim Lamb has allayed fears next year's Ashes series could be cancelled if England pulled out of their tour of Zimbabwe later this year.

England faces suspension from international cricket if they fail to fulfill their two-Test tour to Zimbabwe in October for anything other than safety and security reasons.

Debate on whether England will follow Australian leg- spinner Stuart MacGill and refuse to tour the troubled African state on moral grounds has raised widespread fears that the Ashes series will be rubbed out.

But Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), is confident his side will go to Zimbabwe and keep Australia's tour of England in place.

"I'm very confident that the Ashes series will take place next year," he said.

"Obviously it's a hugely important series and hugely exciting tour and we look forward to welcoming the Aussies next summer."

Insiders claim the ECB has exaggerated the prospect of a cancelled Ashes tour and the subsequent loss of £50 million ($122.87m) to convince the doubters that England must tour Zimbabwe.

Lamb said a withdrawal from Zimbabwe and a cancelled Ashes series would send the ECB into liquidation.

"If the Ashes tour to this country was cancelled and we were unable to replace the international cricket, quite simply, last one out turn the lights off," he said.

"International cricket accounts for 90 per cent of our income. Obviously that's something we must consider when we decide whether to undertake the tour of Zimbabwe."

The ECB are going through the same drawn out process they endured before last year's World Cup as they face intense public pressure to stay out of Robert Mugabe's crippled Zimbabwe.

England forfeited their World Cup match in Zimbabwe.

But this year's tour is expected to go ahead unless the British government tell the ECB not to go.

"We feel that we've got no alternative but to go," said Lamb.

"Unless we get a specific direction from government not to go, which we honestly don't believe will be the case because they don't have the legal powers to do so, or unless there is a legitimate security and safety issue, we will have no alternative but to go.

"The tour is scheduled. It's on until it's not on and at the moment it's on."

Even if England did pull out of its Zimbabwe tour, seven of the 10 full members of the International Cricket Council would need to vote for suspension and the ICC annual meeting would then have to approve the sanction.

It would be in no-one's interest to suspend England and force the cancellation of several lucrative series.

But if England are suspended and the Ashes is cancelled, Australia would have played a major role.

Australia successfully proposed at the ICC board meeting in Auckland in March to impose sanctions against countries who withdraw from tours.

England had previously believed pulling out of the Zimbabwe tour would only take it to an ICC disputes resolution panel, but a possible suspension has made a withdrawal less likely.

AAP

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England attacks new fines
HeraldSun Sport
Jon Pierik
30apr04

CRICKET Australia was under savage attack last night after England boss Tim Lamb accused Australia of being the primary force in introducing heavy sanctions against nations which refused to tour Zimbabwe.

England's Guardian newspaper reported yesterday Australia had ensured countries risked not only a hefty fine of almost $3 million but would be suspended for 12 months from the International Cricket Council if they resisted visiting the troubled African nation.
It was alleged Australia had hatched the plan the night before last month's two-day ICC meeting in Auckland.

The decision was subsequently endorsed by the ICC executive board.

Australia wanted suspension measures introduced to ensure England toured Zimbabwe later this year.









It's believed this decision would help strengthen its links with cashed-up India which is a firm backer of Zimbabwe cricket.

But Lamb's comments were dismissed by CA officials yesterday.

"That is a load of crap," said one high-level board member. "There is no semblance of truth in that at all."

CA general manager public affairs Peter Young said the board had no official response.

The high-level board member said hefty fines had been in place for about three years while suspension for not fulfilling tours without an adequate excuse had long been part of the game's charter.

But had the latter been the case, England would have been suspended for not travelling to Zimbabwe in last year's World Cup.

Lamb, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, was adamant Australia had sided against its traditional ally.

"I think certain members of the ICC, who . . . were concerned about England not completing the tour (to Zimbabwe), discussed what could be done and saw a change in regulations as rather an elegant way of putting pressure on England," he said.

Lamb said a meeting of ICC chief executives in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February had approved tabling a motion at the meeting in Auckland that would ensure countries fulfilled their tour obligations.

The motion did not mention changing the regulations to include the penalties of suspension and fines, and this was raised only one day before the board meeting, he said.

Des Wilson, chairman of the ECB's corporate affairs and marketing advisory committee, resigned on Tuesday over the Zimbabwe tour and the ICC's new penalties.

Meanwhile, the conflict between the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and its players remained unresolved last night despite both parties trying to forge peace.

with Agencies