IT strikes me as very odd that those who wish to sing from the rooftops about a Test match victory in Sydney are generally the same people who in the next breath will say the England team should not go to Zimbabwe.

They want to bask in the glory of preventing an Ashes whitewash, but snatch away our cricketers' chance to achieve what they have supposedly been building towards for the last few years - winning the World Cup.

The more ignorant commentators speak of the trip to Zimbabwe as a tour, when in fact it is one game in a World Cup tournament, the bulk of which is to be played in South Africa.

England's chances of being among the three sides to go through from a group which also includes Australia, India and Pakistan will be seriously jeopardised if they are denied the chance to beat Zimbabwe.

While it is depressingly predictable, I am still incensed that our short-sighted politicians should wait until a few weeks before the event before they start stirring up muddy waters.

The World Cup itinerary has been known for four years and for a large chunk of that time Robert Mugabe has been throwing white farmers off their land and generally behaving in a such a manner as to warrant the labels of tyrant and despot which are now being liberally hurled in his direction.

It's a bit late now to ask cricket yet again to be cast in the role of convenient political pawn when we allowed Zimbabwe to come to the Commonwealth Games and played them in the Davis Cup. Would there be the same demands for a boycott if it were a football match?

I don't doubt that Mugabe's regime is abhorrent, but I'm not aware of our dithering, buck-passing politicians doing very much to inconvenience it.

It seems the Australians have jumped belatedly on the bandwagon as well, especially since an Australian tourist was murdered at Victoria Falls recently.

Pakistan, India, Holland and Namibia also have to play one match in Zimbabwe, but had the politicians begun agitating some time ago, in the hope of forming a united front, then the whole shooting match could have been shifted to South Africa.

Instead we are left with an unseemly mess, in which the cricketers are asked to wrestle with their consciences. It all seems rather unfair on youngsters like Durham's Paul Collingwood and Stephen Harmison, for whom the dream of representing their country in the World Cup is being tarnished.

Go for it boys, and let the politicians do their own dirty work.

WHILE there was much triumphalism among the players while they were actually securing their Sydney victory, at least Nasser Hussain played it down afterwards.

The fact was that the Ashes were lost in 11 days before England yet again showed their penchant for performing better when the pressure of winning the series had gone.

No-one typified this transformation more than Andrew Caddick, who couldn't cope with the Aussie batsmen when they were attacking him on good pitches, but proved lethal when they had their backs to the wall on a crumbling surface.

I am beginning to understand why Alec Stewart didn't want Caddick in the team when he was captain. Sadly for Alec, once the World Cup is over he'll be the one to go, while Caddick will survive as in the latest rankings he's the sixth best bowler in the world.

Mind you, South Africa's elevation to top spot, a year after they suffered the same pummeling as we have in Australia, shows what a farce world ranking are.

EVERY year dawns with two sporting events which are poles apart. Actually, three events because the world of darts continues to confuse us with two championships, in which contestants repeatedly cover the few feet from oche to dart board while competitors in the world's toughest rally are covering around 5,000 miles from Paris to Dakar.

The rally is an 18-day jaunt in cars, trucks and motor-cycles currently at its halfway stage somewhere among the giant dunes of the Sahara.

Dakar, in case you weren't aware, is in Senegal, the country who beat holders France in the first match of the World Cup and prompted Gazza to say he'd never heard of them.

GAZZA has been linked with every club from Morpeth to Malta recently, and not far behind has been Lee Bowyer.

If there was any morality in football, no-one would touch Bowyer with a 50-foot barge pole, but even the highly-respected club which spawned Sir Bobby Moore and Sir Geoff Hurst feel they might as well get him on the cheap and hope his return to his roots settles him down.

It's a pity that his six-match ban from UEFA matches will be irrelevant at West Ham

Published: 10/01/2003