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Bacher on brighter side

Reuters, Johannesburg
Even if England and Australia bow to political pressure to boycott cricket World Cup matches in Zimbabwe, next month's tournament will be the biggest and best ever, organiser Ali Bacher said today.
The leaders of Britain and Australia are pressing their respective cricket authorities to forfeit matches in Zimbabwe to protest President Robert Mugabe's policies, blamed by his critics for a deepening crisis and hunger in the southern African country.
"It would be unfortunate obviously, but the World Cup will take place," Bacher said in an interview.
"It remains the biggest World Cup ever played, the biggest sporting event this country has seen. And we remain confident that it will be a success story for South Africa and international cricket.
"February 8 in Cape Town will be an opening ceremony of Olympic proportions . . . It will set the tone for a successful World Cup."
South Africa is hosting the tournament -- the biggest world cup ever with 14 teams competing -- with six of the 54 matches scheduled for Zimbabwe.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has heaped pressure on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to boycott Zimbabwe, but British government officials failed to reach any agreement at a meeting on Thursday, leaving the decision with the ECB.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has ruled that any team refusing to play in Zimbabwe would forfeit the match, effectively handing a victory tot he Zimbabwe team, which otherwise has little hope of qualifying from the toughest group.
Blair says he can not force the ECB to boycott, and his government has rejected suggestions of compensating the ECB if they cancel. The England team would face a one
million pound fine (1.6-million-dollar) and forfeit two World Cup points if they boycott the match.
Bacher, a former head of South African cricket who is serving as executive director of this year's tournament, says cricketing authorities should not be forced to make political decisions.
"In my opinion it is unreasonable and unfair to ask a sporting body, a cricket body, to make a significant political decision of this magnitude. This responsibility should lie with government," he said.
"It would be inappropriate for me publicly to advise those two cricket bodies how to respond.
"My information is that there will be significant pressure on the English cricket board not to play in Zimbabwe."
Critics accuse Mugabe of bringing the former British colony to its knees through his seizures of white-owned farm land, which they say has exacerbated food shortages. Some western governments say he rigged his re-election in March after a campaign marred by violence.
The row has split the Commonwealth on roughly racial lines, with New Zealand coming out in support of British and Australian boycott calls, even though they themselves are not scheduled to play in Zimbabwe. South Africa and a number of other countries have favoured a less confrontational approach to Mugabe.
India, Pakistan, Namibia and the Netherlands are the other four teams scheduled to play in Zimbabwe.
"Within South Africa, generally speaking, there is a viewpoint that the political direction in Zimbabwe must change, the political direction ... and it must change for social, moral, economic and human rights reasons," Bacher said.
"How is that objective achieved? There are two avenues -- the one is by dialogue and constructive engagement, and that is the viewpoint of the South African government. The other avenue is of sanctions and boycotts, which has been expressed by a couple of governments," he said.