UK News 25-11-2004 Zimbabwe Tour Back On who: England cricket team what: Head for Zimbabwe after lifting of media ban where: Johannesburg, South Africa when: This morning snippet: The BBC reports this morning that Zimbabwe has lifted lifted its ban on British journalists and the England team is "now set to fly to Harare". Yesterday, "Michael Vaughan and his England team dramatically refused to fly to Zimbabwe last night as their bosses attempted to stop a player revolt," says The Sun. "The decision to abort the trip came just 70 minutes before take-off from South Africa after The Sun [along with numerous other media correspondents] was banned from covering the tour." But that`s not quite the story told by other news outlets, which make it clear that the players were uneasy about the tour but were nonetheless acting under strict instructions from back home. They had stopped off in Johannesburg en route to Zimbabwe, but "instead of boarding their flight to Harare," says The Scotsman`s Rhiannon Edward, "the team were instead ordered to stay in Johannesburg while England and Wales Cricket Board chairman David Morgan continued talks with his Zimbabwe counterparts". The Independent says British foreign office minister Denis MacShane "summoned the Zimbabwean charge d`affaires in London to the Foreign Office to express Britain`s `deep concern` over the media ban". The International Cricket Council (ICC) rulebook does not allow England to back out of the tour on the grounds their hosts do not respect the freedom of the media, but yesterday they indicated that they might no0t punish the ECB too harshly should they decide to cancel the five scheduled one-day fixtures in Harare and Bulawayo. "I`m very concerned and very disappointed," says ICC president, Eshan Mani, quoted in The Guardian. "We are trying very hard to have this decision reversed," he said. "There would be a huge amount of sympathy after the way this matter has been handled by the government of Zimbabwe." [... more]

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