Stuart Macgill

[Richard Jenkins]

Stuart Macgill's decision not to tour Zimbabwe must have been a difficult one to make and I understand what his grounds were for not touring. I hope it doesn't affect his career.
Stuart MacGill's statement

Australia say they will not hold MacGill's decsion against him


Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill explains his decision not to tour Zimbabwe:

"Earlier today Cricket Australia announced its Test and one-day squads to visit Zimbabwe next month.

As part of that announcement, Cricket Australia confirmed that I had let them know prior to the selection process that I was unavailable for personal reasons.

Whilst I fully support the ICC future tours policy that requires all member nations to play each other on a regular basis, and understand Cricket Australia's obligation to tour, I told them that I was uncomfortable about touring Zimbabwe at this point in time and maintaining a clear conscience.

I did this before selectors met without knowing if I was even to be named, in the hope of avoiding disruption to the selection process and tour planning.

I have talked to Cricket Australia, and thank them for the advice and assistance they have offered me on this issue.

I have a high regard for all of Zimbabwe's cricketers that I have met and played against and wish them the best as they seek to develop the game in their country, and hope that at some stage in the not too distant future I can be part of that process.

However I have given this a lot of thought over a long period of time, and personally do not believe the situation in Zimbabwe is such that I can tour at this stage. There will be people that question my timing and motives for making such a decision, and I recognise and appreciate their right to disagree.

I don't have ambitions as an activist or political spokesman, and I don't want to influence anybody else because this is a personal matter based on my own feelings.

I know plenty of Australian cricketers that I have played alongside who have thought long and hard about this issue and decided that they will tour Zimbabwe.

It is a complex problem and I respect their decisions and wish them the best.

From this point I don't propose to be doing further interviews or making further statements as I get on with my life as a cricket player."

from bbc

[Notts Exile]

Should be good news for Notts!!


Good on him for making that stand. Hopefully some of our boys will do the same.

[prasad]

would he be selected even if he does not take a stand?

[Richard Jenkins]

I think he told the selection panel that he was unavailable for this tour and why. I suppoose he'd have been selected, but its just an empty question now.

[CJ D]

Fair play to him for making a stand - especially a lone stand - lets see how many other cricketers from around the world will do the same when it is their turn.

[Whips_off_the_bails]

Cricinfo is saying that there are "up to seven" Australian players with doubts about touring Zimbabwe. McGrath is the only one who has declared himself positively in favour of going (claiming that "people he has talked to" in Zimbabwe are looking forward to seeing Australia there").

Both McGrath and McGill are to be applauded for making their views known at an early stage in proceedings before the selectors have met to discuss the team.

However, James Sutherland, boss of Cricket Australia, can hardly be taken seriously when he claims that touring Zimbabwe will help cricket's development as a global sport. Political interference in Zimbabwean sport is now so blatant that it cannot be ignored, and undermines the basic ethos of sport.

Edit: Adam Gilchrist is also definitely going. As was to be expected from that admirable cricketer, he has thought over the matter long and hard (and discussed it with McGill), and his decision is a moral one. See Why I'm touring Zimbabwe: We must support cricket through tough times.

Nevertheless, I disagree with his reasoning. He states, for instance:

"My World Cup experience confirmed that while acknowledging the moral issues, I did the right thing by playing, and now I again feel that I have to do the right thing by cricket."

I think the situation, both in cricket and in Zimbabwe as a whole, has deteriorated a whole lot since the World Cup.

Nevertheless, Gilchrist is one of those rare sportsmen - one you can respect as a human being as well as a sportsman.