The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) has insisted England should honour their scheduled tour next October despite calls for them to boycott it.

On Sunday, president Robert Mugabe pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth.

And there are calls from within the country to sever all ties with Britain.

But ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka said: "Our position is very clear we are a sporting body that's apolitical."

He added: "What happens with Zimbabwe's status within the Commonwealth has nothing whatsoever to do with the cricket situation."

Zimbabwe went ahead with a tour of England in June on the un-

derstanding that a reciprocal tour dw

would take place the following year.

The ECB announced on Tuesday it would delay a decision on the tour until late-February, when it meets to review the situation.

But Chingoka is certain the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would not be able to call off the tour on grounds of safety or security.

"The only concerns that the ECB expressed were related to safety and security and very clearly that does not apply," he said.

"We've hosted successful tours as recently as the West Indies last month.

"We fulfilled our obligations like we do with every other country and we expect every other country to do the same when it's their turn.

"I believe that we're all gentlemen, I believe that there are friendly

relations between all the boards and that sanity will prevail."

Zimbabwe are due to host Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka before the England tour, although Cricket Australia want their security guaranteed.

"If all those countries arrive there's no reason why England should be an exception," asserted Chingoka.

"It's surprising that this is only relating to cricket England played against non-Commonwealth countries at the Rugby World Cup, and they had a football match against Turkey, so why the isolation on cricket?"