Zimbabwe dispute between ICC and ECB meanders on

The apparently intractable situation that has developed between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council continued in Cape Town today, as England considered their response to the ICC's confidential reply to their latest appeal to have Thursday's World Cup moved away from Zimbabwe to South Africa.

With no further comment forthcoming from the ECB, there is inevitable and growing speculation that they might be mounting a legal challenge to the ICC's refusal to move the match away from Harare on the grounds of security.

The primary issue appears to remain the death threat England received from an organisation called the "Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe". While the letter England were sent has been dismissed as a hoax by South African police, the ECB - as advised by Interpol - remain of a different view.

The contents of the ICC's reply to England have remained confidential at the ECB's request, and the ECB's response will be in writing as well. Further talks between the two sides are possible later today.

"Until this issue is resolved, it's difficult to move forward," insisted ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. "The ICC cannot make this decision for the ECB.

"It's the responsibility and duty of the ECB to make its own decisions on if it will fulfil its obligations and to tell the ICC of its decision so that the matter can be resolved."

Meanwhile England's players have been told by the ECB to concentrate on playing cricket while negotiations continue. The team met ECB chairman David Morgan this morning, and were told that he and ECB officials would take care of all non-cricketing matters.

The tournament director, Ali Bacher, is understood to have telephoned the ECB chief executive, Tim Lamb, to plead for a decision on the Harare game.

"This has been going on since England were in Australia and still they are not able to come to any decisions," Bacher told a news conference in Johannesburg.

"There are sponsors to cater for, there are spectators to advise, there are travel arrangements to be made and it is just not fair on any of these people to suspect of them to logistically organise a cricket match in one day," he added.

"It's time to make a decision. What has always impressed me most with England is their belief in fairness and fair play."

But the president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Percy Sonn, was far less compromising when he spoke to reporters this morning. Sonn had earlier threatened to cancel South Africa's tour of England if they fail to play in Zimbabwe.

"I am not sympathetic to England's situation at all," Sonn said. "We all live in a world where there are various risks and we all have to deal with them.

"It is our tournament and they are obliged to follow their commitments, so if they do pull out, they will snub us as hosts of the tournament, and we will definitely have to look at that," he added.

Such is the nature of this dispute now, the opinions of the ECB's lawyers carry far more weight than those of Percy Sonn or Ali Bacher. Whatever the twists and turns that remain in the wretched saga, it is now virtually impossible to imagine Thursday's match taking place.