Vaughan to abide by authorities' decision

Michael Vaughan, the England opener is ready to play the World Cup match with Zimbabwe in Harare if the cricket authorities insist it goes ahead. Vaughan is happy to take part in the game on 13 February if the England and Wales Cricket Board say so.

The International Cricket Council have so far refused to move the game to an alternative venue, possibly in South Africa where the majority of fixtures for next month's tournament will take place.

But Vaughan is looking to his employers to make the decision and believes his team-mates feel the same way. "We will be happy to do whatever the ECB decide," Vaughan said yesterday. "As a player who's been in Australia for two-and-a-half months we have not had much chance to read what's been said about the game."

"If the ECB tell us to go we will go," he added It is up to the ICC, the ECB and the Government to tell us what to do."

The Zimbabwe captain, Heath Streak, has accused the British Government of hypocrisy over their stance. Streak is angry that Tony Blair's administration are urging England's players to boycott the game at the same time as maintaining trade links with Zimbabwe.

Streak said: "Politicians are not speaking out about the hundreds of British companies trading in Zimbabwe. This is double standards.

"They should be consistent," he added. "If they target cricket alone it's hypocritical. It is only because of the high profile of the World Cup that we are being picked upon in this way."

Several ministers have urged England's players not to take part in the game but the Government have insisted the final decision is up to the ECB whom they have agreed to meet next week to discuss the situation.

The New Zealand Foreign Minister, Phil Goff, is backing a call from Australia to boycott the games in Zimbabwe. Goff said yesterday he would send a message, "not an instruction", to New Zealand Cricket to consider asking the ICC to transfer all World Cup matches from Zimbabwe to other countries. "New Zealand would not want to do anything to give comfort to the Mugabe regime," Goff said.