Zimbabwe to skip World Twenty20 in England

Dubai, Jul 4 (UNI) Zimbabwe have agreed to skip next year's World Twenty20 in England to end a stalemate with the ICC, Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka said here today.

''We've decided to pull out in the larger interests of the game,'' Chingoka told Cricinfo website.

''We have been informed that the British government may not grant visas to our players and that situation may prevail during the Twenty20 World Cup,'' he added. ''We don't want to be gatecrashers.'' The International Cricket Council (ICC) executive board met for an extra third day today to resolve the deadlock over Zimbabwe, which has lurched from one crisis to another in the last few years both on and off the pitch.

Some countries, led by England and South Africa, had been pushing for Zimbabwe to be stripped of Full Member status but that move had been opposed by India.

However, the troubled African country is expected to remain as one of the ICC's 10 full members, a status given to Test-playing nations.

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