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LONDON, Tuesday - English cricket authorities Tuesday rejected British premier Tony Blair's call to boycott Zimbabwe during next month's World Cup.

The England and Wales Cricket Board decided to ignore pleas from the British government and go ahead with their game on February 13 in Harare.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said the decision was unanimous but said the players would not be allowed to take part in a ceremony before the game where they could end up shaking hands with Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

"As I think is widely recognised, the ECB Management Board have been confronted with an extremely difficult situation, not of our own making," Lamb said.

"We are not, of course, immune to, or unaware of, what is happening in the wider world, but we do not believe that it is our role to make subjective moral judgments about the various regimes in the different cricket-playing nations. These are matters for elected governments to consider and take a decisive and early lead."

Only a rapid deterioration in the security situation in Zimbabwe in the next few weeks is now likely to stop six World Cup games going ahead there.

There have been fresh incidents of rioting because of human rights abuses of Mugabe's regime and the International Cricket Council has set up a committee to monitor the situation.

But they would have to decide that the country was not safe for officials and players before the games could be moved to South Africa, where most of the 54-game tournament is being played.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We won't deny that this news is very disappointing.

"Of course this was a tough call for the ECB to make, but we still believe Government's position was the right one.

"However, as we've said all along this was the ECB's decision. We are also glad that the ECB have made it clear that England's players will do nothing to take part in Mugabe's propaganda.

"Of course we will be advising them on this, as well as on security and safety issues."

Lamb last week English cricket could face legal action from the ICC and their sponsors if they boycotted the game.

Lamb said legal action could have a huge impact on the finances of the domestic game and was not prepared to see cricket being used as a "token gesture" when hundreds of British companies were allowed to trade with Zimbabwe in spite of human rights abuses of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

Protesters against England playing in Zimbabwe invaded the Lord's ground in London to disrupt the ECB meeting. They forced their way inside when security guards opened steel gates to let media enter the ground for a news conference.

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