Tour continues to divide opinion

In the light of yesterday's news that the New Zealand government might refuse to give visas to Zimbabwe's cricketers and in doing so effectively scupper the planned tour in December, the heat has now again turned of the New Zealand players as they prepare to tour Zimbabwe in August.

On Tuesday, Martin Sneddon, the chief executive of the New Zealand board (NZC). Announced full-strength sides for the trip, adding that NZC was monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe, and that there was nothing to suggest that the team would be in any danger.

The stand taken by NZC - the insistence that security was the one and only issue - is reminiscent of that adopted by the England board last year, with the potential financial repercussions should the tour have been scrapped the overriding issue. Snedden warned that a minimum fine of US$2 million was likely, and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union's track record and financial state suggests that it would have had no hesitation to have pushed for the maximum penalties.

But unlike England, none of the New Zealand players have raised any objections to travelling. One of the party, Jacob Oram, told reporters that he was just a cricketer going to play cricket - "That's the bottom line." And while he explained he was aware of the political situation, he added that it was not his primary focus. "After being out for six months, I just want to play again. I think the fact that all the players made the decision to make ourselves available says a lot."

Since England visited, Zimbabwe has held elections in which Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party won a disputed majority. But the economy is in freefall, and human-rights abuses have escalated, with hundreds of thousands left homeless in the cold winter as Mugabe ordered the bulldozing of whole areas which were almost all opposition strongholds.

Reaction to the tour in New Zealand is mixed, with the country's politicians quick to voice an opinion but usually admitting that there was little that the government could actually do to prevent it happening. Phil Goff, the foreign affairs minister explained that the government would prefer the tour not take place "because of the appalling things that the Mugabe regime is doing to its own people".

Rod Donald, the co-leader of the Greens and a vehement opponent of the tour, suggested that by hinting that the Zimbabwe side would be banned later in the year, it could mean Mugabe's government could retaliate and ban the New Zealanders.

Robert Patman, Otago University's international relations expert, said that Mugabe would be deriving some pleasure from the row. He added that a New Zealand boycott might not affect things in the short term, but it might influence the future, and that given Mugabe is now 80, his successors may well take note of action by the international community.

In Zimbabwe, the newspapers made no mention of the row.