England's escape route closed after Zimbabwe go-ahead

The England cricket team's World Cup match against Zimbabwe will go ahead as scheduled in Harare next month following a decision by the International Cricket Council.

The ICC ratified its stance to stick with the original tournament schedule, provided there is no deterioration in security before the opening match in Harare on 10 February.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, speaking at a London press conference yesterday, said: "Following my visit to Zimbabwe this week I gave a report to the ICC board. The board reaffirmed their earlier decision, which was that there was no reason to relocate the matches to be played in Zimbabwe."

But the ICC still left room for a late change of plan. "There are factors that have occurred and continue to occur on safety," added Speed. "We could switch venues if the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates. There would have to be a cut-off point, probably with four or five days to go. They could be moved if the situation deteriorates drastically.

"I outlined a number of issues reported to have occurred in Zimbabwe, but we need to put into perspective the issue of teams going in for a short time with a high level of security." Speed revealed that 433 police officers had been assigned to each of the six matches scheduled to be staged in Zimbabwe – three in Harare, three in Bulawayo. "Our priority is the security of players and officials and security specialists are working on that."

Last night the England and Wales Cricket Board, which has been under pressure from the British government to boycott the Zimbabwe leg of the tournament, welcomed the ICC decision. "We have said all along that if the safety and security is guaranteed, which is what the ICC is saying, then we are happy to go ahead and play in Zimbabwe," said a spokesman.

He added: "If there is a further deterioration in the security situation in Zimbabwe then we will ask the ICC to review the position. The safety and security of our players remains paramount to the ECB."

But the Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Ancram insisted the ECB and ICC are wrong to play matches in President Robert Mugabe's country. "I condemn the ICC's decision to proceed with the World Cup matches in Zimbabwe. As I made clear in a meeting with Tim Lamb of the ECB earlier this week, I am strongly opposed and will speak out against the decision for the England cricket team to play in Zimbabwe.

"Nobody can claim the situation in Zimbabwe is secure or safe. I saw for myself the fraught situation there when I visited last year. Elias Mudzuri, the mayor of Harare, has said nobody is safe and has called for the matches to be moved. The British Government must now convey in the strongest possible terms to the ECB that the England team should not play in Zimbabwe."

The ICC had originally sent a security delegation on a fact-finding mission in November to assess the levels of security, and on the follow-up trip earlier this week Speed and Dr Ali Bacher, the tournament director, met with diplomats from Britain, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan, as well as representatives from the Zimbabwean and South African police services, in Harare. But while comfortable with the Zimbabwe situation, Speed admitted the ICC remain concerned about the two matches scheduled to take place in Nairobi – New Zealand and Sri Lanka face Kenya on February 21 and 24 respectively.

"A delegation went to Nairobi last week. There are some concerns on safety and security in Kenya and the board were not able to resolve those today. There will be another meeting next week, probably Thursday or Friday, and we will be seeking some further information to resolve that."

However, Speed admitted: "There are a number of dangerous cities in which one-day cricket is played. We would prefer we could play without that extensive security presence. We will see strong security in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya. There will be a high level of security around players and they will be protected.

"I hope there won't be any trouble. The supporters going need to take heed of the advice of their High Commissions. The British High Commission want to be at the matches and advising what they, the fans, can and can't do. Zimbabwe is going through difficult times. There are issues that will impact on cricket supporters in Zimbabwe that are not present in other counties. We will do our best to make sure it is a safe experience for supporters."

On the subject of disputes regarding players' contracts for the World Cup, Speed revealed that Sri Lanka's players had signed their players' terms, but he conceded that the dispute with the Indian Cricket Board over their players' terms had reached an impasse.

"In effect there is a truce with concessions on both sides and at the end of the event I suspect there will be a process of arbitration with ICC making a claim over the altered players' terms."