As the violence in Zimbabwe grew yet more serious, England's proposed tour this autumn came under serious question for the first time. A day after more than 250 pro-government protesters rampaged through Chinhoyi in the north-west farming district, Gareth Thomas, Labour MP and secretary of the UK all-party parliamentary sports group, stated that the tour should be called off.

"To play cricket matches in a country where the government is clearly condoning violence against its opponents must be questionable. Unless the situation improves drastically this tour should be cancelled."

It would only be England's third visit to Zimbabwe. They last went on the back of the 1999-2000 tour to South Africa. The current plan is to play five one-day internationals in September and October.

John Read, spokesman for the English Cricket Board (ECB), was cautiously optimistic: "We are still planning to go ahead but this is being reviewed daily. We will be guided by the Foreign Office."

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) were undaunted. There is no question that we will cancel those tours," chief executive Dave Ellman-Brown said. "Obviously we are watching the political situation carefully as it has been a difficult week, but there is not even a suggestion that the tours will be called off.

Andy Flower, Zimbabwe's leading batsman, supported his board's decision. He told Reuters, "Zimbabwe is a safe place to play cricket. I believe these problems are far away from anywhere that a cricket team would visit."

Rioting resulted in England coming home early from a tour of Pakistan in 1968-69, but the only previous time an England tour has been called off because of violence was the proposed 1939-40 tour of India. The culprit? World War II.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd