The International Crikcet Council said Friday it would not take action Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga after its Technical Committee found 'it was not appropriate' to lay any charge of bringing the game into disrepute against them.
Flower and Olonga wore black armbands while appearing for Zimbabwe's World Cup clash against Namibia on Monday as a mark of protest against what they considered repressive regime of President Robert Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union referred the matter to the ICC's Technical Committee seeking the players to be punished under the ICC's Code of Conduct but the six-member committee chaired by CEO Malcolm Speed did not find evidence 'to warrant a charge being laid against the pair.'
"The ICC seeks at all times to avoid using cricket as a platform on which to advance political agendas and its very strong belief is that the players, officials and administrators within the game should refrain from doing the same.
"The Committee requested that the players stop wearing black arm bands to make political statements for the duration of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003," said Speed in a statement.
"There are enough people outside the sport seeking to achieve political ends through cricket for their own purposes, with out the sport's participants contributing to this matter.
"In the case of Flower and Olonga, the players have blurred the lines between political issues and the sporting arena.
"While this is a principle that the ICC does not wish to see violated, it is also the case that there is no sound basis for finding that their actions have brought the game nto disrepute and there is no charge that could be sustained under the ICC Code of Conduct."
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