The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announces that in response to today's publication of the report from the ICC Safety and Security Delegation, it has decided to accept the Delegation's recommendation that, as things stand at present, it would be safe and secure to play in Zimbabwe during the forthcoming ICC World Cup. Consequently, the England team will fulfil its commitment to play against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13th, 2003.

Elaborating on this decision, Tim Lamb, Chief Executive of the ECB, said: "The recent ICC fact-finding Delegation to Zimbabwe was asked to examine whether or not it is safe and secure for our players to play in Zimbabwe. That was its only remit - it was not asked to consider political factors. The ECB is not a political organisation and does not take decisions on that basis. Our primary concern is the safety and security of our players and management team.

"The British Government has not instructed us not to go and, indeed, there are over 300 British companies currently trading in Zimbabwe (*) who, similarly, have not been instructed to cease their commercial activities. There is no logical reason, therefore, why ECB as a commercial business should be singled out and penalised in comparison to those other commercial organisations.

"As a national governing body for sport, the ECB does not consider it appropriate to make political judgements about the acceptability or otherwise of foreign governments. On the other hand, it does have a responsibility for the safety of its players and management. And we take this very seriously.

"There is no wholesale international sporting boycott of Zimbabwe and, in recent times, their sportsmen and sportswomen have taken part in Davis Cup tennis matches, international golf tournaments and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. We don't understand why playing cricket is seen as being different to any other sport.

"While I was in Zimbabwe with the ICC Delegation, the Deputy Mayor of Harare and the Mayor of Bulawayo, both senior members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who control these cities, confirmed their support for the World Cup going ahead in Zimbabwe and said that they regarded these games as being clearly in the national interest."

* Included in the 300+ British companies trading in Zimbabwe are: BP/Shell, Costain, Unilever, RTZ, Standard Chartered, Barclays and British Airways.