HARARE, Nov 27: England players will not be expected to shake hands with Zimbabwean government officials during their controversial tour of the southern African country, captain Michael Vaughan said on Saturday.

Protocol between officials from Britain and its former colony is a sensitive issue, especially since British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw found himself shaking hands two months ago with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

"It has been confirmed to us that we will not have to shake the hand of any government official," Vaughan told a news conference in Harare where England are due to play the first One-day International in a four-match series on Sunday.

Asked whether the players had any plan in case they were asked to greet government officials, Vaughan replied: "We have. The tour will be assessed throughout the week."

England's tour was delayed and cut short by one match to four after a row over accreditation for the majority of British journalists covering the tour.

The team flew to Harare from South Africa on Friday after Zimbabwe said it would allow the barred journalists in.

"For the last four days we have been doing things we're not paid to do," added Vaughan.

"The best part of the week was yesterday afternoon at Harare Sports Club, when we were able to train and do what we do best.

"We have a very young squad, and some of the guys have seen things they shouldn't have seen and been part of meetings they shouldn't have had to be part of.

"Now we need to play the four games and get out of here."

Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain have hit rock bottom since Mugabe launched a campaign of chaotic and often violent seizures of land from white farmers, many of whom held dual British citizenship.

Top strike bowler Steve Harmison boycotted the tour before the squad was announced and several players, including Vaughan, aired reservations before the latest crisis.

The England Cricket Board offered Vaughan the chance to skip the tour, but he declined because he felt he should stand by his players.

"I've only been in the job for 18 months, so I've also had a tough few days," he said.

"I certainly won't be giving up my job because of the last four days."

Asked for his initial impressions of Zimbabwe, Vaughan replied: "So far I've seen a hotel, a restaurant and a cricket ground.

"I'm looking forward to going to South Africa a week on Monday."

David Morgan, the ECB chairman, said he had been insistent on the reduction.

"It would be unrealistic for our players to go into a full scale ODI within hours of arrival," he told reporters

"Four matches in eight days will be a hectic schedule anyway."

Morgan said it was largely down to the efforts of the British Embassy staff in Harare that the Zimbabwe government's refusal to accredit 13 of the 55 visiting British journalists was reversed, enabling the tour to go ahead.

He emphasised that the tour would "most certainly" have been called off if this had not happened.

"Now we can go through with this tour, which can mean we will have closure on the 'Zimbabwe Affair', which he said it was being called.

Morgan agreed there was still the matter of two Test matches to be played against Zimbabwe in Harare and Bulawayo.

"But that is a long time in the future. If we had not come here now, the 'Zimbabwe Affair' would have become a running sore for a long time to come."

England are scheduled to return to South Africa on Dec 6 to play five Test matches and seven One-day Internationals.

Graffiti feature in reports

LONDON: Go-home graffiti and a row over compensation gave cricket journalists something to write about in their first dispatches from Zimbabwe after the delayed arrival of the England side.

England, who flew into Harare from Johannesburg on Friday, had been ready to pull out of the tour over the refusal of President Robert Mugabe's government to grant visas to 13 journalists assigned to cover the event.

An 11th hour U-turn to grant them entry saved the tour, but the decision came too late for Friday's opening match in Harare, which was cancelled, resulting in the one-day tour being cut back from five matches to four.

Several journalists angled their reports in Saturday's national newspapers on fresh red graffiti on a white wall on Robert Mugabe Avenue near England's five-star hotel.

It read "England go home, shame on England" and "England go back".

"Such remarks are unlikely to make the England and Wales Cricket Board reconsider their position, but it highlighted to the team that not everybody in this country is pleased to see them," wrote Angus Fraser in The Independent.

On page one of The Guardian, under the headline "A country where the Big Man rules," Paul Kelso wrote: "The opportunistic graffiti could hardly have been missed by the players as they departed for practice."

"On the streets around Miekles (hotel), the cricketers' arrival has been noted by those who might benefit from the travelling circus, and any visitor emerging from the hotel quickly receives offers to change currency on the black market," he reported.

One man selling "small ebony animals" on the street, who told Kelso he welcomed the visitors, was offering 8,500 Zimbabwean dollars for one US dollar, compared to the official rate of 6,000 dollars.

The black market for foreign currency also caught the eye of former England player Derek Pringle, writing for the Daily Telegraph, who found Harare "a city cleaner and greener than most of its African counterparts".

"Looks can prove deceptive in closed societies," he added, "although with (England cricket team captain) Michael Vaughan and his team enjoying VIP status, they are unlikely to see the other Zimbabwe."

Richard Hobson, in The Times, and Mike Dickson, in The Daily Mail, focussed on a money dispute which they said has erupted between the England and Zimbabwe cricket boards.

They both noted that Morgan refused to pay compensation to the hosts for the abridged schedule on grounds that Zimbabwe was to blame for the flap over journalists' visas.-Agencies