Banning the tour puts the ICC in a tighter spot than the ECB if you ask me. They cannot punish England for a political decision. The precedents are India and Pakistan not touring each other, and New Zealand and Australia banning Zimbabwe tours. If they did take punitive action, it would be grotesquely unfair and unjust, and everyone would know it. If they withdrew the tournament because Zimbabwe cannot participate, the loss of revenue would seriously harm English cricket. Yet the decision would have been taken by the British government. It is well known Malcolm Speed has little time for morality or for England's Zimbabwe objections, talking of England taking an "Imperial and colonial outlook" on the issue. I totally disagree with that. It will be very interesting to see what the ICC do.
As regards whether this is the right thing to do, I believe it is. Obviously I would dearly love to see Zimbabwe play in England again, but not under this evil, dictatorial government. Gordon Brown has shown some guts on this issue and I hope will not stand for the ICC's tacit recognition and collaboration with one of the most corrupt and vile governments on earth. However, I would like to see Zimbabwe play in official tournaments like the 2020 World Cup, and thus the issue is very complicated.
