MacGill takes moral stand on Zimbabwe

14 April 2012

Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has refused to take part in the forthcoming Test series in Zimbabwe on moral grounds.

MacGill told selectors he had made himself unavailable because he "did not believe he could tour Zimbabwe and maintain a clear conscience". He was due to hold a press conference today after playing for Nottinghamshire against Durham.

Australian officials said they understood MacGill's decision and would not force him to tour or banish him from future selection. Chief executive James Sutherland said the rest of the team had agreed to tour in May and June despite the political turmoil in Zimbabwe.

Fifteen rebel players are in dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, which began when former captain Heath Streak questioned the composition of the selection panel.

The selectors named a weakened side for the series with Sri Lanka, which began yesterday with a 12-run win for the visitors under the Duckworth-Lewis calculation.

Several teams have been under political pressure to boycott the country as world leaders express concerns about the government of president Robert Mugabe.

However, the International Cricket Council have threatened suspension and heavy fines for teams who refuse to tour, unless there are legitimate safety concerns or they are asked not to go by their governments.

England appear likely to tour in October after a meeting at Lord's with ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka. A worldwide ban could cost the game in this country £50million.

ECB chairman David Morgan has already stressed no player will be forced to sign up if the trip does go ahead.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in