Politics In Sport

Zimbabwe’s political situation is appalling. Mugabe’s “victory” in the recent elections have given a veneer of democracy to a regime that appears to be slowly killing the country over which it rules, and has turned the country once known as the bread basket of Africa into a basket full of ashes.

Today the ICC was meant to vote on whether to suspend Zimbabwe from the ICC, but it appears now that the vote will be held tomorrow. This has been taken as a sign that negotiations are continuing within the ICC to try and make sure that the vote passes whenever it is eventually taken.

The problem is, though, that it does not appear like anyone is willing to budge. There are ten votes on the ICC panel, and any resolution has to have the support of seven for the motion to pass. Zimbabwe get a vote themselves, and Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan are all set to vote against any suspension of Zimbabwe from the ICC.

The argument from the Asian countries is that politics and sport should not mix and that the cricketers of Zimbabwe should not be made to suffer for the actions of their government. However, part of the reason for the British government’s insistence that Zimbabwe should be suspended is because of the close links between Zimbabwean cricket and President Mugabe.

There is hope that a compromise will be met in the shape of Zimbabwe voluntarily absenting themselves on the grounds that they are not currently good enough to compete in the world cricketing arena. If this is the principal hope of the member countries then things are bleak indeed for the ICC.

Both the England and Wales and South African cricket boards have cut ties with Zimbabwe already, and look set to refuse to take to the field at any stage with any side from Zimbabwe. Refusal to participate in the past has been met with the threat of relatively serious sanctions from the ICC and England will not want to find themselves looking down the barrel of that issue once again, although, this time they do at least have the unequivocal support of the government.

There is a bigger issue at stake here, though. Certainly politics and sport should be kept separate for as long as possible, but it is ridiculous for a cricketing team to be brought over to England or any other country to participate, to live in a hotel and eat good food when back in their country literally millions of people are suffering from food shortages and violence. Cricket is Zimbabwe’s biggest sport, and of all the sports that are played in Zimbabwe it has the highest profile on the world stage, a refusal to allow Zimbabwe to take part is a symbol of a refusal to accept the current regime in the world arena.

Whilst the wrangling continues at the ICC England’s cricketers will continue to prepare for the upcoming test series against the other cricket board to take a stance against Zimbabwe: South Africa. According to online bookies, Blue Square, England are narrow favourites, but there are bigger stakes involved in world cricket at the moment.

Sports Betting Odds provided by Blue Square.

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