Graveney at risk over his double role

England will finally confirm on Tuesday that they will play their World Cup match in Zimbabwe. After weeks of political pressure to withdraw, it will be concluded that the worldwide unity of the game must come before a lone and almost certainly ineffectual moral stand on behalf of the Government.

The dispute, which has been rumbling on for six weeks, is bound to have repercussions and it is being suggested that a significant casualty might be David Graveney, chairman of the England selectors and chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association. Graveney expressed a personal view in public two weeks ago that England should not go, and has become increasingly isolated in both his roles.

David Morgan, the newly installed chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, indicated in Australia yesterday that the latest government statements had not changed opinion on whether the match on 13 February should go ahead. "The level of probability is the same as it was a week ago," he said.

The ECB and the International Cricket Council are probably both clinging on to one development which could get them both off an uncomfortable hook. If the safety and security of players are put at risk by worsening civil unrest in Zimbabwe all six pool matches scheduled for the country would be moved to South Africa.

That at least would preserve cricketing unity. The ICC are limbering up to send another security delegation to the country in a fortnight. Virtually overnight they have formed a new safety monitoring committee, which will check on food riots in Harare and Bulawayo.

Morgan is in Australia for the VB Series and was at the game in Hobart yesterday where he intended to speak to England's captain, Nasser Hussain, and coach, Duncan Fletcher, who have both been asking for more information.

"I have seen a number of players in the last 30 hours and I have heard nothing to suggest that there is widespread disquiet," he said. "But it would be a very indifferent and backward looking employer who didn't listen to the views of the cricketers."

The ECB stand to lose on all fronts – except the moral one – if they do not make the Zimbabwe match in Harare on 13 February. First, their boycott could cause a schism in the world game along racial lines. This is a card they have only just decided to play. Morgan was unequivocal about the damage to "the family of cricket" and "a split in the world game" if England pull out. But two weeks ago, because it is such a delicate issue, the cricket authorities were still trying to dodge it. Indeed, Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the ECB, dismissed the question.

Secondly, the ECB could face a compensation claim from the International Cricket Council of more than £1 million. With the Government rigidly unprepared to recompense them or take any other sanctions against Zimbabwe, they will make their decision more easily.

The ECB's 15-man management board – down to 14 because of Morgan's absence – will formally decide whether to go. Their meeting will have two guests giving the views of their organisations: Malcolm Speed, the chief executive of the ICC, and Tim Munton, a newly appointed senior official of the PCA.

Graveney has not been involved in discussions apart from his bizarre personal statement a fortnight ago, saying England should not go. Two days later he announced the squad. But it seems odd that the ICC are sending their top brass to the meeting and the PCA are not. Graveney's combined roles appear to be increasingly untenable.

Morgan said that Graveney's position had come up during a recent meeting of the International Teams Management Group. "It was felt by both the former chairman of the ECB [Lord MacLaurin] and the former chairman of the ITMG [Brian Bolus] that he was doing a superb job managing to balance the responsibilities. It's something we have to keep under review. All appointments have to be reviewed from time to time."

Graveney's tenure as selectors' chairman is due to end in September but in some quarters it is being suggested that he might resign his PCA job before that.

Morgan said dissenting players would be given every sympathy. "I heard a comment from a senior player yesterday to the effect that he'd been led to believe by the media that the situation is not as good currently as when the inspection team went. But the view I've been picking up is of the kind 'You are the ECB, you will assess the position, you will give us the green light or tell us not to go'."

Throughout the row, the awful prospect has loomed of Hussain being coerced into a position where he would have to shake hands with Mugabe, perceived as an awful symbolic gesture. But Ali Bacher, the World Cup organiser, said yesterday that only one president would be on the pitch during the tournament, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, at the opening ceremony. And even he will not be presented to the players.