International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani admitted Zimbabwe's decision to ban a number of journalists from entering the country for England's one-day tour was a great concern to the governing body.
The England squad and the travelling media are due to touch down tonight in Harare for the start of a 10-day tour which has been widely condemned because of the land reform policies of president Robert Mugabe.
That has prompted calls for the tour to be called off but Mani said the ICC, who had highlighted to the England and Wales Cricket Board the possible financial implications of a boycott, would endeavour to seek a resolution to the situation.
"It is of great concern. We heard about this refusal to grant visas quite late in the afternoon yesterday," he said.
Mani refused to accept that in the light of the media ban and the obvious political intervention by Mugabe's regime it now fell upon the ICC to call off the tour.
"I believe the two matters (the tour and Zimbabwe's politics) are totally unrelated. We accept that cricket and politics do mingle but our responsibility is to cricket and it is for politicians to deal with politics."
