Pulling out of the tour last week, Scotland Cricket cited security reasons and government advice to pull the team out of the tour that was originally scheduled to take place at a neutral venue in Africa but was rescheduled three months ago to be played in Zimbabwe, at the request of Zimbabwe Cricket.
ZC managing director, Ozias Bvute, said last Thursday the decision to abort the tour had denied the two countries an opportunity of mending relations through sport.
“The decision is regrettable,” he said in a statement from Harare. “We have consulted with our various authorities who have all ruled out the possibility of these matches being played in a neutral venue.
I remain of the belief that sport can build bridges and I have confidence that it can also act as a catalyst for healing and national unity. It is with this in mind that we hope that in the not too distant future, all the strained sporting relations will be restored for the common good of all.”
Last week Cricket Scotland defended the move, saying the New Prime Minister David Camerons government had told the cricket authority that: there has not yet been sufficient progress in Zimbabwe on the fundamental issues of political reform and of re-establishing the rule of law to justify sports tours by British teams and the positive signal that would send.
We therefore strongly advise against such visits. We recognise that the final decision is for the relevant Cricket Boards, but hope they will consider their decisions carefully in the light of our unequivocal advice.
The Scottish Government recently said it supported the stance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that it strongly advises Scottish sports teams against visiting Zimbabwe.
In 2002, United Kingdom slapped the President Robert Mugabe and top officials of his Zanu (PF) party with restrictive measures citing human rights violations in the country. Subsequently, it warned sports teams from visiting Zimbabwe citing security reasons.
ICC has previously punished the teams by docking them points for their failure to fulfil fixtures against Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Cricket