Cricket authorities and the Conservatives yesterday accused the government of a woeful lack of leadership after ministers backed a boycott of the World Cup in Zimbabwe but insisted they had no powers to order such a move.

Ministers are privately urging that the World Cup matches scheduled for Zimbabwe in February be switched to South Africa.

After a weekend call for a boycott from Downing Street and from Clare Short, the international development secretary, cricket authorities angrily pointed out that no minister had made such a proposal directly to them.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said it had met Tony Blair and the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, last month, but neither had suggested the matches in Zimbabwe be stopped due to human rights abuses in the country.

Tim Lamb, the board's chief executive, called the government's conduct as "extraordinary and disappointing". He called for a meeting at the highest level to clarify government thinking and consider the consequences of a boycott.

"Nobody from the government has contacted us directly to say they don't want us to go to Zimbabwe," Mr Lamb said from Sydney, where he is to attend the final Ashes Test match.

But the Foreign Office last night said: "FCO officials have been in regular contact with the ECB since the the week before Christmas, when the personal views of the foreign secretary not to go to Zimbabwe were passed on, and the official government position was made clear."

It is the first time the FO has revealed any intervention by Jack Straw on the issue.

The government appeared to have been galvanised into a stronger line at the weekend after Ms Short, in a BBC radio interview, described a tour as deplorable and shocking. But she conceded she had not written to Ms Jowell calling for the tour to be stopped.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, backed his party's call for tougher action against the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, by writing to Mr Blair yesterday demanding details of any pressure mounted by Downing Street.

Accusing the government of neglecting its responsibilities for months, he wrote: "It is not good enough for the government to try to jump on a bandwagon as political, media and public criticism of the decision to play World Cup matches in Zimbabwe grows. It is time for you to take charge."

Mr Blair replied to the Tory leader insisting: "The government's position is clear: the decision on whether England should play in Zimbabwe rests with the England and Wales Cricket Board - an independent sporting body.

"There are no legal powers available to the government to ban a sporting team from participation. However, in the light of the deteriorating political and humanitarian situation in the country, ministers have made clear that if the decision were for them, England should not play in Zimbabwe."

Foreign Office officials had been in contact with cricketing officials since October and "ministers would be happy to discuss this further with the ECB", the prime minister said.

The foreign affairs select committee has agreed to hold a second inquiry into British policy on Zimbabwe just six months after an earlier inquiry called for tougher sanctions and an extension of the travel boycott to business supporters of the Mugabe regime.

Downing Street denied it was bowing to political pressure. The advice on the FO website merely states: "It is possible an atmosphere of political controversy will surround the matches. As with all activities involving large gatherings of people, there will be a heightened security risk at the games."

Nothing on the site suggests visitors, let alone the cricket team, should not attend the World Cup.

Any decision to block the six matches can be taken only by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council, of which the England and Wales Cricket Board is part. The pressure mounted last night when the Australian government also called on its players not to give any succour to the Mugabe regime.

This month the ICC voted that six matches scheduled for Zimbabwe would go ahead after establishing that there was no security risk to the players.

The England captain, Nasser Hussain, also called on the government to take a clear line, and said that leaving the decision to cricketers was "ridiculous". "It is faintly ridiculous to suppose that the England captain and management have the time to come to the informed moral judgment which it is necessary to make about going to Zimbabwe," he said.

Guardian Unlimited ' Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001

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