LONDON, Jan 6: The International Cricket Council (ICC) was going ahead Monday with plans to stage World Cup matches in Zimbabwe despite the weekend murder of an Australian tourist in the strife-torn country.

However, a spokesman for the Australian Foreign Minister said the murder emphasised the government’s concerns about Zimbabwe staging World Cup matches.

He also re-iterated calls for a collective boycott of all World Cup fixtures in Zimbabwe because of the policies of President Robert Mugabe and the worsening security situation.

But an ICC spokesman in London told AFP: “We need to find out more about the incident before making any comment.”

The 27-year-old South Australia man was stabbed to death on Saturday in an apparent robbery attempt while visiting Victoria Falls in northwestern Zimbabwe, the foreign ministry said.

“This death is certainly a reminder of the wider concerns that we have about security in Zimbabwe and the deteriorating political and economic environment,” a spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told AFP.

He said Australia was continuing discussions with other World Cup cricketing nations in hopes of organising a group boycott of Zimbabwe venues during the tournament, due to open in Cape Town on February 8.

Prime Minister John Howard has openly opposed the Australian team playing matches in Zimbabwe, where political violence has been rife since Mugabe began forcibly evicting white farmers as part of a “land reform” campaign.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has also called for a total World Cup bocyott although Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, whose parents live on a farm, has pleaded with visiting teams to carry out their fixtures as planned.

Howard has said it would be unfair to the cricketers and their fans to unilaterally withdraw the Australia team. “It’s got to be one-in, all-in or one-out, all-out,” Howard said over the weekend.

Downer has lobbied his counterparts in favour of a group boycott and has the support of both the British and New Zealand governments.

Howard this week said he would consider helping to cover the cost of boycotting the matches, although the British government has indicated it would not be willing to indemnify the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) against any losses.

Meanwhile the whole Zimbabwe issue is threatening to create a racial split within world cricket.

India and Pakistan, the other two major cricket nations due to play World Cup matches in Zimbabwe, say they have no problems with the game going ahead.

The ICC has always maintained that the six out of 54 World Cup matches in total (the bulk are scheduled for South Africa) due to take place in Zimbabwe would proceed as long as the safety and security of the players was assured.

In November, the ICC sent an inspection team to Zimbabwe to assess its safety and security status.

Following the publication of the team’s report last month, the ICC decided to press ahead with the Zimbabwe matches although it reserved the right to pull out if the situation “deteriorated”.

But as it stands at the moment, teams will be docked World Cup points if they fail to play in Zimbabwe.

They could also carry the cost of claims brought against the ICC by sponsors and broadcasters demanding their money back if the games are called off for political reasons.

The ICC has repeatedly said it is not its job to pass judgement on the Mugabe regime.

ECB representatives are due to meet British government ministers Thursday to discuss the situation.

An ECB spokeswoman told AFP on Monday that they would not be making any further comment on Zimbabwe until after that meeting.

Over the weekend the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) warned of the humanitarian consequences of a boycott.

And unconfirmed reports suggested Mugabe might respond to such a move by withdrawing the passports of Zimbabwe players and so prevent them from playing abroad.

ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka said: “Directly the (World Cup) organisation employs about 220 people so the extended family means at least a 1,000 mouths are fed through cricket.

“Indirectly I would guess, all told, a total of 5,000 people are fed through cricket. They need this opportunity and they need the World Cup to be a success,” he added.

ECB officials have been angered by what they see as the government’s hypocrisy in calling for them to mount a boycott while British firms continue to do business in Zimbabwe.

And they are also worried by the prospect of retaliatory action from the Zimbabwe government.

They could withdraw their team from the scheduled tour to England in the next northern summer in response to a World Cup boycott.—AFP