DUBAI, Aug 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) is to reject a proposal by the British government to ban Zimbabwe from playing international cricket because of its human rights record.

“We do respect their views, but we don’t make decisions on political grounds and neither are our decisions on playing cricket based on the human rights record of a country,” Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, said on Wednesday.

“I haven’t had a chance to speak with our president (Ehsan Mani) but our stand on such matter is pretty clear. It’s up to the teams to decide whether they honour the commitments.”

Speed said the ruling body’s position was the same when India and Pakistan refused to play each other for political reasons.

“If the countries want to play it is fine and if they don’t we don’t interfere in the foreign policy of any government,” Speed said before the ICC’s scheduling summit to discuss a six-year programme of international cricket on Thursday and Friday.

The summit will be followed by a meeting of the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) on Aug 28 and 29.

The inclusion of cricket in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be one of the major issues to be discussed, and recommendations will be sent to the ICC Executive Board meeting to be held in Sydney in October.

“The format of the game will be a key topic whether it be the 50-over or Twenty20 matches, we will have to see,” Speed said.

“The inclusion of Twenty20 game in the international calendar will also be debated,” said Speed, who disagrees that it would threaten the existence of the 50-over format.—Reuters