Anthony Abrahams, the former Australian rugby union player who led a seven-player boycott of matches in southern Africa in 1971, has added his voice to the Zimbabwe debate. Abrahams told The Australian a precedent had been set when Don Bradman cancelled South Africa’s cricket tour in 1971.

"I spoke with three [of the six other players] and we all think this is a harder issue than South Africa because there's no blanket exclusion of players from the Zimbabwe cricket team because of race or colour or belief," Mr Abrahams said. "It opens a Pandora's box because of the question of who else don't you play against because of their political regimes."

Malcolm Conn, blogging for the same paper, argues that the Australian government should back up its rhetoric with a formal ban.

The Age reports that cricket is now the most popular sport in Australia, overtaking swimming for the first time since Sweeney sports surveys began 21 years ago.