Kaye Hoey, the former sports minister, told Cricinfo that she opposed Scotland and Ireland playing against Zimbabwe, regardless of where the matches took place. "What ICC should be doing is putting them right out of any competition because of the way cricket has been politicised," she said.

If the ICC did decide to include Zimbabwe in the Intercontinental Cup then she said she would like to see Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister, do something but that ultimately it would be a British government decision. "The sooner they make a John Howard type of statement, the better."

Asked if it would make any difference were Zimbabwe to be scheduled to play in Scotland and Ireland rather than have those countries play away, Hoey said she was against any matches against an official Zimbabwe team as "it's saying the situation in the country is normal".

Ireland presents a different set of problems as the national team is picked from both Northern Ireland, governed from Westminster, and the Irish Republic, so there would need to be discussions between the two governments . But the Dublin authorities have been very sympathetic to the cause of those fleeing Zimbabwe and there are large numbers of Zimbabwean expats living in Dublin who would be very against any sporting contact.

Hoey warned that the strength of feeling is such that "there would be massive demonstrations on a par with those that surrounded the South African sides who toured in the era of apartheid".