Michael Vaughan doesn’t want a repeat of the World Cup scenario

London: England captain Michael Vaughan has insisted there would be no talk of Zimbabwe among his players while they are in the West Indies.

England begin their bid to win a Test series in the Caribbean for the first time since 1968 even as the question of whether they will tour Zimbabwe later this year remains unresolved.

The issue will come up for discussion at ICC’s executive board meeting in New Zealand next week.

ECB David Morgan will argue the case for a postponement of the October tour on political grounds in protest against the regime of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe at the Auckland meeting on March 9 and 10.

Vaughan believes it is administrators, rather than his largely inexperienced side, who should have the final say on whether the tour goes ahead as planned.

“The ECB will be making decisions. We have got a young team and there is no way young players should be involved in any decision revolving around a political situation,” Vaughan said in a live radio interview.

“Hopefully they will make the decision and we can just concentrate on the cricket. We are trying to get our preparation spot-on for the first Test starting on Thursday week in Jamaica and there will be no mention of Zimbabwe.”

England’s World Cup campaign last year was blighted by confusion over whether or not they would play a match in Harare.

After months of deliberation, they pulled out on the eve of the match citing security fears.

It was a decision which cost England money and crucial points. It also saw them losing friends among the rest of the international cricket community as well as souring relationships between their own players and administrators.

“I think we all agree that in the World Cup last year it wasn’t dealt with in a great manner both from the management and players side,” said Vaughan. “That is not going to happen again,” he insisted.

Vaughan’s career as Test captain got off to an eventful start against the South Africans in a riveting series in England last year. Vaughan took over as captain after Nasser Hussain resigned as captain following defeat in the first Test. Vaughan struggled with the bat but his team succeeded in squaring the series 2-2.

The stylish opener tasted his first series victory as Test captain in an away series in Bangladesh and then travelled to Sri Lanka for another exciting that.

It was a tough series for England against Muttiah Muralidharan & Co. and to their credit, the visitors managed to draw the first two Tests despite being under pressure.

Vaughan led from the front in the second Test, scoring a marathon century in the fourth innings on a wearing pitch. But his team’s resistance crumbled in the final Test and the team bowed finally to lose the series 0-1.