Sadly, Morgan is playing a dead bat again

England should never have needed a getout clause in order to escape from the tour to Zimbabwe.

If the bosses at Lord's believed even a small percentage of all those stories of appalling human rights abuses, rigged elections, racism, torture and murder then they ought to have told the International Cricket Council: "We're not going, no matter how much you threaten us with fines and suspension."

But that is an argument now debated to the point of exhaustion.

Much more relevant today is the fact that the England Cricket Board have been given an 11th hour opportunity to slip out the back door - and still they seem too timid to make a move.

Zimbabwe's decision to refuse 13 journalists from British media organisations - apparently picked at random - to cover five limited-overs internationals should figure at, or very near, the bottom of any the charge list being drawn up to throw at Robert Mugabe.

But in terms of presenting the ECB with a perfectly justifiable reason for cancelling a tour few people in this country want to go on, especially the players, then it will do quite nicely.

Or at least it would if only ECB chairman David Morgan would break the habits of a two-year term of office and do something truly decisive.

No other country in the international cricket community could get away with banning bona fide journalists without a decent reason.