The International Cricket Council, working toward a compromise that would exclude Zimbabwe from the Twenty20 World Cup yet allow it to retain full-member status, will use both days of its board meeting to deliberate on the future of the African country. The ICC executive board failed to decide Wednesday on Zimbabwe's cricketing destiny after President Robert Mugabe won a widely discredited election last week that was marked by violence and voter intimidation. With Zimbabwe thought to still have the support of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, any bid led by South Africa and England to expel the country or downgrade it to an associate ICC member looks doomed to fail when the two-day meeting wraps up Thursday. A two-thirds majority - or seven votes out of the 10 on the ICC board, which includes Zimbabwe - is required for any resolution to be passed. Instead, Zimbabwe is expected to suspend itself from international play, ostensibly under the guise of declining cricketing form, but keep most or all of the $11 million annual funding from the ICC and retain its voting rights that, together with the four-nation Asian bloc, form a bulwark against the other Test-playing nations. That will allow England to host the Twenty20 World Cup next June, which looks certain to be a financial boon, after its government last week said Zimbabwe was no longer welcome for a Test and one-day series tour in May. South Africa had also severed all bilateral cricket ties with Zimbabwe two weeks ago in protest at the worsening human-rights situation in the strife-torn African country. If Zimbabwe isn't suspended by the ICC and insists on participating but is banned by England in breach of the staging agreement, then the tournament is likely to be shifted to Canada, the designated backup venue. That could leave England susceptible to missing out on hosting other international events, such as the 2019 World Cup or the 2018 football World Cup. British Culture secretary Andy Burnham refused to commit his government to banning Zimbabwe from the World Cup. “I would not want to be in a position of overruling a governing body in sport. I vigorously defend the independence of our sporting bodies and will always to that,” he told the BBC on Wednesday. “If we haven't held sway we would listen to the arguments of the other ICC members, but our position is completely clear: we think, in the current circumstances in Zimbabwe, it isn't right for any tour to take place. India wants all players from the non BCCI-sanctioned ICL league to be banned when it hosts the Champions League from Sept. 29-Oct. 8, which will feature two teams from India, Australia, South Africa and England, and it is expected to be granted that wish in turn for facilitating Zimbabwe's withdrawal from the Twenty20 World Cup. England will be represented by the two teams from the ECB Twenty20 Cup final on July 26. Vikram Solanki, Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Stuart Law and Niall O'Brien have all played in the ICL, and would be ineligible if their counties advance to the eight-team event. For its support, Pakistan will want the ICC to confirm it as the host for the Champions Trophy in September, ignoring security complaints from Australia, New Zealand and the international players' union that the country is unsafe following several bomb attacks. Sri Lanka and South Africa have been mentioned as alternative venues. Australia postponed a tour of Pakistan in March due to security fears in the wake of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in late December 2007, and several Australian players have indicated they may pull out of the event.
