London: The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has supported Australia’s decision of not touring Zimbabwe and demanded that the African country should be permanently suspended from international cricket.

The 15-member MCC’s world cricket committee, headed by former England captain Tony Lewis, said Zimbabwe’s playing standards had continuously declined during president Robert Mugabe’s regime and was unlikely to improvein his tenure.

The committee also includes Team India captain Rahul Dravid and former Zimbabwean International Andy Flower.

“The MCC world cricket committee, which met for the third time on Monday, believes the standard of cricket played by Zimbabwe, a full member of the ICC, has deteriorated to such an extent that their Test and ODI status should be permanently suspended until such time as the cricket infrastructure is rebuilt,” the MCC said in a statement here.

“While it is not for the MCC world cricket committee to make judgements on the politics of any particular country, the committee believes the decline in the standard of cricket in Zimbabwe is directly related to the political situation there, and that an improvement is unlikely while the current regime is in place.

“The committee, therefore, welcomes the decision of the Australian government in preventing the team from touring Zimbabwe later this year.

“Once the social unrest has been addressed, ICC should assist the Zimbabwe Cricket in rebuilding as a serious cricketing nation,” the statement said. (PTI)