England may find themselves transgressing established agreements with cricket's world governing body if they cancel their tour of Zimbabwe for anything other than "safety and security reasons".
The England and Wales Cricket Board are on course as early as next week to consider scrapping the tour currently scheduled for the autumn.
England were originally due to rule next month on plans to travel to a country beset by Robert Mugabe's malignant regime. But they now seem ready to act sooner following new guidelines for assessing the suitability of overseas tours in a 17-page document entitled Reviewing Overseas Cricket Tours: A Framework for Rational Decision-making - penned by Des Wilson, chair of the ECB's corporate affairs and marketing advisory committee.
Wilson appears to advocate the recognition of political and moral factors in deciding whether to undertake a tour.
The ECB have reacted by making it clear they will decide off their own bat rather than "under pressure from outside influences". They face an early examination of that intent thanks to the International Cricket Council's timely reiteration that all member countries have already signed up to a mutual policy waiving the right to cite "political considerations" as a reason for cancelling playing arrangements.
An ICC statement quoted the views of president Ehsan Mani following a meeting yesterday between their own top brass and ECB chairman David Morgan and chief executive Tim Lamb.
Mani said: "All Test-playing countries, including England, have given a binding commitment to each other that political considerations would not be a factor when reviewing playing obligations and this commitment was discussed during the meeting."
Six factors are identified in Wilson's paper - including security, the moral argument and concern for the views of the game's stakeholders, ranging from players and sponsors through to the public.
