Zimbabwe's cricketing future is set to be decided today when the International Cricket Council (ICC) holds an unscheduled third day of debate on whether the African country should have its international status withdrawn.

At its annual meeting, the ICC's executive board agreed to change the result of a forfeited match in 2006 between England and Pakistan to a draw, rather than an England win. The game's governing body also ordered a final security report before deciding if Pakistan can host the Champions Trophy later this year.

Zimbabwe remains the outstanding issue on the agenda, with the four-nation Asian bloc seemingly reluctant to downgrade its status to ICC associate member after England and South Africa severed all bilateral cricketing ties in protest at the lack of fair elections and a worsening human rights situation in the country.

political reasons

Any attempt to downgrade Zimbabwe due to political reasons is likely to be deemed unconstitutional, with critics saying Pakistan's political regime is not democratic.

However, attempts are being made for Zimbabwe to suspend itself, ostensibly under the guise of declining cricketing standards, while keeping some or all of the US$11 million annual funding from the ICC and voting rights that, together with the four-nation Asian bloc, form a bulwark against the other test-playing nations.

"Some progress has been made and we will return to the subject tomorrow morning," ICC president-elect David Morgan said yesterday.

When asked if there had been any votes on suspending Zimbabwe from the ICC, Morgan replied: "No votes, whatsoever. I'm not really ready to talk about Zimbabwe."

If this solution goes ahead, that will allow England to host the Twenty20 World Cup next June, which is otherwise likely to be moved to Canada, the designated backup host, if Zimbabwe is invited to the ICC event.

Nearly 300,000 tickets have been sold for the Twenty20 World Cup, which is already an outstanding financial success and likely to earn a total £10 million (US$19.9 million) for the ICC and ECB.

Match result changed

The forfeited Test between Pakistan and England at The Oval in 2006, sparked by a ball-tampering row, has been changed to a draw because the ICC said "the original result of the match was felt to be inappropriate."

Umpire Darrell Hair accused Pakistan of ball-tampering in the final Test. The team then refused to come out to play after tea on the fourth day and the match was awarded to England, the only forfeit in test cricket's 131-year history.

England have now won the four-Test series 2-0 instead of 3-0 in the record books, after ICC acting chief executive Dave Richardson said his organisation found a unique solution to a unique situation.

"We'd hope that that unique situation as it unfolded, that those circumstances that gave rise to the board feeling it was appropriate to change the result, won't occur again," Richardson said. "The Pakistan team would say that they were in the process of coming out (to play).

Code of conduct amended

The ICC has taken the power from umpires to decide on a similar issue, amending its code of conduct to ensure that high-level breaches of the rules are, instead, referred to an adjudicator within the ICC Appeals Commissioners.

The ICC confirmed that Sri Lanka is the alternate host for the Champions Trophy in September - a one-day international tournament featuring the top eight teams in the world - if a final security report within 10 days of the Asian Cup finishing on July 6 demonstrates that Pakistan is unsafe.

Australia postponed a tour of Pakistan in March after several bomb attacks in the wake of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in late December 2007, and several Australian and New Zealand players have already indicated they may pull out of the tournament rather than play in Pakistan.

"It's a case of continually having to monitor the situation," Richardson said. "We're not to be taking chances and if the situation is to deteriorate then we will have to re-look at our decision to continue with the staging of the event in Pakistan."

When it was pointed out that Sri Lanka has its own security issues with its ongoing civil war with the Tamil separatists having killed more than 70,000 people since 1983, Richardson agreed it was a far from ideal solution.

"They have different security issues but, certainly, security issues, and that's one of the problems we do face," Richardson said.

Other decisions

Also decided at the executive meeting:

• Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd was appointed ahead of former Pakistan batsman Majid Khan as the new chairman of the ICC cricket committee, replacing Sunil Gavaskar who is stepping down.

• The ICC will further examine a proposal by Cricket Australia to establish a Test championship to help keep the longest format of the sport as its pinnacle in response to the dramatic success of Twenty20 cricket.

Samuels' ban

• The ICC upheld West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels' two-year ban by the Windies board in May for breaking rules intended to prevent players from betting on matches.

• In the event of a tie at the Champions Trophy and Twenty20 World Cup, there will be a one-over eliminator instead of a 'bowl-out,' which had five bowlers from each side attempting to hit an unguarded set of stumps.

• Players will no longer be replaced if they leave the field to go to the toilet.