The pretence that the civil turmoil in Zimbabwe is nothing more than a little local difficulty which won't seriously affect the country's role in the cricketing world was further undermined at the weekend when Heath Streak, recently reappointed as Zimbabwe's captain, returned to his family's ranch to prepare for a stand-off with government-backed forces. Streak's father, Denis, was among 12 white farmers arrested last week after failing to meet the August 8 evacuation deadline imposed by president Robert Mugabe. Under Mugabe's land-reform legislation, they were supposed to have vacated their farms without compensation. Streak, who was in Harare when he heard the news, immediately returned home to be with his father.

"I am proud to be a Zimbabwean and to play for my country - it is my home - but it is very hard for us," Streak told the Daily Telegraph. "We wore black armbands in India and Pakistan after a farmer who was a friend of one of the team was killed in 2000. We wore them in Britain earlier this year when another farmer, Terry Ford, was killed."

Streak and many other leading cricketers now have to decide whether they are willing to remain in Zimbabwe as civil order continues to break down. Last week Streak's wife gave birth to their first child, and Streak has some difficult decisions to make. "Perhaps in the next few days we'll know whether there's a place for us in Zimbabwe," he said. "I'm a third-generation Zimbabwean. I can't imagine living anywhere else."

The situation is made more complex by the fact that Mugabe is patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, and the players are bound by their contracts not to speak out against the ZCU and, therefore, Mugabe.

David Houghton, Zimbabwe's first Test captain and subsequently their coach, left the country shortly after April's internationally discredited elections, telling the Daily Telegraph that he no longer considered his homeland a safe place for whites. There are rumours that a number of current leading players are considering whether the time is right for them to join the exodus.

What is certain is that the plan to play some of next year's World Cup matches in Zimbabwe are looking increasingly precarious. It seems unlikely that England or Australia (both of whom are scheduled to play group matches in Zimbabwe) will overlook the political mayhem there , and the argument that politics should not affect sporting events holds about as much water as it did during South Africa's isolation during the apartheid era.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd