Zimbabwe 'committed' to touring England

Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, has given England reason to hope his team will fulfil their summer Test tour of this country.

Chingoka went some way to allaying fears that Zimbabwe may stay away in a tit-for-tat response to England's decision to boycott their World Cup tie in Harare last month. "We had already committed ourselves that we would undertake the tour mid-last year, and the ECB had already sold television and other rights basing it on our written commitment," Chingoka said.

Elsewhere, Shane Warne will receive up to A$15,000 (£9,000) in prize-money from Australia's World Cup victory, despite not playing a game after testing positive for a banned diuretic. The Australian Cricket Board said yesterday that the team had decided to divide up the A$3.6m in winnings on a pro-rata basis, according to how long each player had spent at the tournament.

Kenya's opening batsman and wicketkeeper, Kennedy Otieno, and the captain, Steve Tikolo, are set to sign contracts with foreign clubs. Otieno will play here for British American Tobacco in the Southampton League, while Tikolo has offers from two South African clubs – Langa and Soweto.

The organisers of the Sharjah Cup have called the tournament off following South Africa's withdrawal, but will replace it with an alternative event. The competition was due to be held from 1-10 April between South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Organisers plan an alternative series featuring Sri Lanka, Kenya and Zimbabwe.