Players ready to tour Zimbabwe

With comments reminiscent of those made by England's players last autumn, New Zealand's cricketers expect to tour Zimbabwe next month, but are expected to do all they can to ensure that no political capital is made by Robert Mugabe from the trip.

"We expect the tour to go ahead," Heath Mills, the executive manager of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association, told the country's press association. "In an ironic way I think that the New Zealand cricket team touring Zimbabwe has actually highlighted the issues in Zimbabwe for New Zealanders.

"When the players get to their pre-tour camp they will be discussing ways in which they will not be seen to be supporting the Mugabe regime or the political system in Zimbabwe ... very similar to what the English cricket team and the Australian cricket team have done in the last few months."

Mills said that none of the players had contacted him with concerns about whether they should go or not, but he added: "Clearly the players are talking about it. They're talking to their friends and families. Ultimately they are contracted to New Zealand Cricket and they are international cricketers. That's how they earn their money.

"They are used to going to parts of the world that have human rights issues. They are certainly not accepting of those issues in those countries. When they go to Pakistan, none of the players would agree with the fact that the army runs the country as the result of a coup a few years ago. When they go to India they are used to walking outside the hotel room and there are people living on the streets with no housing simply because of who they are born to because of a caste system."