Cricket Australia statement on planned Zimbabwe tour

The Australian cricket team is due to visit Zimbabwe in May-June to play two Test matches and three one-day internationals.

Our immediate priorities are before then. We have a VB Series to host here in Australia and then a tour to Sri Lanka from February.

We have had some preliminary discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for an update on Zimbabwe security.

But we will turn our minds to Zimbabwe far more seriously from March when Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association will visit there to assess the situation first hand. Such visits are routine before all overseas tours and as always, safety and security is our only issue. We will only travel if we are satisfied it is safe to travel.

Once the inspection visit is over, we will start the detailed business of talking to the Australian Government for its advice on the international safety, talking to other safety experts, monitoring the expert advice, and doing all of the other things we need to do before travelling abroad.

We welcome the Government's consistent position that the decision is ours to make.

We are aware of the difficult situation in Zimbabwe, just as we are aware that there are diverse political, social and economic issues in other countries we visit.

Our long-standing position is that we are cricketers, and our visits have no other symbolism than that.

Cricket Australia supports the International Cricket Council future tours plan strategy, which requires all Test-playing nations to play each other at home at least once every five years as a mechanism to help develop cricket as a genuinely global sport.