England players' dismay at crisis

England tour to Zimbabwe is on

England's players have been "saddened" by the Zimbabwe tour crisis and claim to have been used as "political pawns".

The tour goes ahead after the Zimbabwe government lifted its ban on British journalists on Thursday.

"It's naive to say that sport and politics don't mix," said players' spokesman Richard Bevan.

"But you are able to draw a line in the sand and say you should not cross that particular line, and using players as political pawns is unacceptable."

England had threatened to call off their tour unless a "significant number" of the 13 blocked media, including the BBC, were allowed in.

"From the players' perspective, the last 24 hours has been extremely disappointing and saddened the players for a number of reasons," said Bevan, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association.

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"The players have been considering the issue of whether to tour Zimbabwe for the last 18 months.

"Deciding to tour Zimbabwe does not condone the issues that are going on in the country and we have discussed on many occasions whether this tour should take place.

"When John (Carr) and I went to Zimbabwe on the safety and security visit we discussed and had detailed assurances on a number of issues.

"We'll be monitoring those throughout and should there be any breach of those assurances we will take it extremely seriously and review it when it may or may not happen."

The squad arrived in Harare on Friday morning, 36 hours after their scheduled arrival.

Bevan said: "The players have acted in a proper manner throughout by supporting the ECB in a very difficult position."