Cricket: Zimbabwe blocks papers from covering England tour

LONDON - Zimbabwe has blocked the BBC and a number of national British newspapers from covering England's controversial tour.

The decision to deny 13 of 36 visa requests from British media outlets wanting to cover the tour which starts on Saturday was made on political grounds, said George Charamba, secretary for the Zimbabwe government's Ministry of Information.

"Bona fide media organisations in the UK have been cleared but those that are political have not," he said yesterday.

"This is a game of cricket, not politics. Those that want to bowl us out of politics we will have to engage them at the political stadium ... and its fixture will be in March next year."

Despite the ban the tour is set to go ahead.

"I expect the tour to proceed despite the unfortunate situation regarding media accreditation," England and Wales Cricket Board chairman David Morgan said.

"It's unfortunate and embarrassing and something that we will be pursuing on arrival there with the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket."

The visa ban follows the expulsion in April this year of veteran British sports columnist Mihir Bose a day after his arrival to cover the Zimbabwe versus Sri Lanka cricket series.

The Daily Telegraph writer was told he had applied too late for accreditation and was put on a plane to Johannesburg the next morning.

In 2001, Harare kicked out a BBC correspondent and vowed never to accredit any BBC journalists.

The following year Robert Mugabe's Government introduced a media law making it mandatory for all foreign journalists to apply for accreditation at least a month before their planned visit.

All applications are processed by the information ministry.

Among those turned down were journalists from The Times, Telegraph, Sun, Mirror and their Sunday versions.

The others, including the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Independent and the Guardian, and agency reporters from Reuters and the Press Association will all be allowed access.

Morgan added: "The England cricket team is committed to appear in Zimbabwe for the future tours programme which is a regulation of the International Cricket Council."

Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, said he had no say in accreditation.

"Government officials are the ones who handle that.

"I have just passed on my information to the ECB and my dealings are with them."

The International Cricket Council says it is seeking urgent clarification from the Zimbabwe Government on the grounds for the decision.

"All countries recognised that the media regulations of the Zimbabwean Government are different to those imposed in other countries," said ICC president Ehsan Mani.

"They accepted the undertaking of Zimbabwe Cricket that it would do everything possible to work with each country to assist cricket journalists seeking accreditation."

- REUTERS