Zimbabwe cricket tour 'to be axed'

England cricket chiefs are set to call off a tour of Zimbabwe in protest at President Robert Mugabe's brutal regime, reports today claimed.

An early decision to cancel the trip, planned for November, would avert months of uncertainty.

It would be welcomed by the hard- pressed democratic opposition in Zimbabwe. But it would be certain to provoke an angry reaction from Mr Mugabe, who withdrew from the Commonwealth last year after it criticised his human rights record.

The management board of the England and Wales Cricket Board will meet next week to rule whether the tour should go ahead. It will base its decision on a report by former Sport England vice-chairman Des Wilson which says moral concerns must be taken into account.

The Foreign Office is expected to advise the ECB to call off the tour.