Zimbabwe has agreed to withdraw from the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup in England, but has retained its full-member status with the International Cricket Council. The Zimbabwe Cricket delegation at the ICC annual conference will recommend to its board to withdraw from the tournament next June as it has become clear that England would not grant the team visas to compete, the sport's world governing body said Friday. “The Zimbabwe delegation has agreed to take this decision in the greater interest of world cricket and the ICC. This recommendation should be viewed as a one-off and will not be taken as a precedent,” the ICC said in a statement. The British government withdrew its invitation last week for Zimbabwe to tour next May in protest after President Robert Mugabe won a widely discredited election that was boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and marked by violence and voter intimidation. South Africa has also severed all cricketing ties with Zimbabwe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he welcomed the African nation's decision to withdraw from the tournament. “This will allow the Twenty20 tournament in England to go ahead,” Brown said. “It also sends a powerful message to Zimbabwe that the government must change or face further isolation.” Zimbabwe Cricket, which will report back to the ICC in one month to relay its board's decision, won't suffer financially from the decision and will receive a participation fee like every competing team. Incoming ICC president David Morgan said Zimbabwe's status as a full-member of the ICC wasn't an issue for the board. “The full membership of Zimbabwe is currently not in doubt,” Morgan said. “There was not even a discussion on the issue of Zimbabwe's membership.” The top six associate members will play Twenty20 qualifiers in Ireland in August, with the top three now likely to advance to the World Cup instead of the top two, although newly appointed ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said his organization's cricket committee would need to first examine that proposal. The Twenty20 tournament stands to earn a total 10 million pounds ($20 million) for the ICC and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) with nearly 300,000 tickets sold, but it would have almost certainly have felt negative financial implications had Zimbabwe insisted on participating. Had England barred Zimbabwe from competing, the tournament would almost certainly have been shifted to another country. Outgoing ICC president Ray Mali said the decision for Zimbabwe to step aside was the right one. “Dealing with the Zimbabwe issue is my responsibility as the leader of this organization, and we had to resolve it and we have found a solution,” Mali said. “Everyone in cricket stands to benefit from a tolerant decision. I think we could not jeopardize that tournament - it had to go on.” The ICC has appointed a three-man committee that includes board members Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka and Dr. Julian Hunte of the West Indies to advise on when Zimbabwe can return to playing international cricket. Zimbabwe last played Test cricket in 2005 when it hosted India before withdrawing due its declining standard of play. The team has played one-day internationals intermittently, most recently in a five-match series at Pakistan in January and February. Zimbabwe will ostensibly be withdrawing from international cricket for cricketing reasons, as any move to suspend or downgrade its ICC membership on political grounds was likely to be deemed unconstitutional. Niranjan Shah, the secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said before the board meeting that India “would like to fully support Zimbabwe Cricket” in its retention of full ICC member status. Zimbabwe retains its voting rights that have consistently sided with the four-nation subcontinental bloc, led by India, to form a bulwark against the other Test-playing nations. Morgan denied the ICC was divided on the issue of Zimbabwe, although he did acknowledge that there has not always been a uniformity of view on the board. – AP __
