ECB: Zimbabwe Move A 'Minimum Solution'

Collier - 'minimum solution'.

English cricket chiefs have described Zimbabwe's withdrawal from next year's World Twenty20 as their "minimum" solution to the ongoing crisis over the African country.

Zimbabwe this week agreed to pull out of the tournament, due to be played in England next year, after coming under pressure at the International Cricket Council's executive meetings in Dubai.

The England and Wales Cricket Board and their South African counterparts pressed for Zimbabwe to expelled as a major cricketing nation but could not find the required two-thirds majority to push it through.

Yet with worldwide political opinion hardening against president Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, a compromise was reached over the World Twenty20.

With the British Government having already stated cricketers representing Mugabe would not be welcome in the UK, their decision prevented the logistical nightmare of having to move the event.

ECB chief executive David Collier told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I think the solution that came out in terms of Zimbabwe not playing at the World Twenty20 was the one that was the minimum that we really wanted.

"We feel for the people in Zimbabwe and particularly the cricketers in Zimbabwe. We want Zimbabwe to come back and produce the world-class players they have in the past.

"You feel sorry for any sportsman in this position but I think the words of Nelson Mandela resonated in the rooms around Dubai and I think the right course of action was taken.

"We will now have a really world-class event in England next year."