LONDON, Dec 28: Britain’s International Development Secretary Clare Short is urging England’s cricketers not to play in Zimbabwe in the World Cup.

She said it would be wrong to go there because of the way the government is treating supporters of the opposition.

She joins a growing list of sports personalities and politicians who have called for a boycott of the World Cup matches in the war-torn country.

Ms Short told BBC Five Live she would be contacting Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of sport.

“I don’t think they should go,” she said. “It’s like pretending everything is OK in Zimbabwe.

“The government is destroying its country and massively damaging its people and not feeding hungry people. How can you go and play a game of cricket in that?”—PPI