London: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday warned the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that if it withdrew from the proposed tour of Zimbabwe, it would be open to the African country’s board to seek legal remedy and compensation.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that England may cancel their tour this October on moral grounds after a paper submitted by a senior member of the sport’s national governing body. Des Wilson, chairman of the ECB corporate affairs committee, presented a 17-page document to the ruling body saying humanitarian issues should be considered in deciding whether tours take place.

“The safety of a touring party can no longer be the only factor in deciding whether or not to proceed with a controversial tour,” Wilson, a former vice-chairman of Sport England, told The Times.

But the ICC came up with a strong reply. “Should the ECB elect to withdraw from this tour for reasons other than safety and security, it would then be open to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) to take the ECB to the ICC’s disputes resolution committee to determine if any compensation is payable or to take any other legal action that might be open to it under the terms of agreement between the ECB and the ZCU,” the ICC said in a statement.

“The ICC will ensure that both the ECB and the ZCU are treated fairly and equally as the ECB reviews its commitment to tour Zimbabwe,” the ICC said.

According to the ICC statement, its president Ehsan Mani and chief executive Malcolm Speed met ECB chairman David Morgan and chief executive Tim Lamb and the ECB outlined the review process it was undertaking.

Mani said during the discussions the ICC had reconfirmed the unanimous agreement of all its members, including the ECB, that political considerations would not be used as a reason for withdrawing from playing obligations.

“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,” Mani said.

“The arrangements for this tour have been made on bilateral basis under the umbrella of the ICC’s future tours programme that is agreed by all countries. This obliges each team to play each other once at home and once away in a minimum of a two Test match and three ODI series over a five-year period,” Mani said. (Reuters)