England’s World Cup plans descended into chaos yesterday as the England and Wales cricket board launched a last-minute legal bid to have the controversial fixture in Zimbabwe called off without penalty, amid concerns over death threats against the players.
With the match just three days away, the ECB chief exec utive, Tim Lamb, and the chairman, David Morgan, were locked last night in an unscheduled meeting with their counterparts at the International Cricket Council to discuss the issue, which one insider described as ”the most highly charged English cricket has had to deal with”.
After a weekend of bruising meetings between players and officials in Cape Town, the ECB announced it had received fresh information regarding security in Harare, including death threats to the players.
It has asked the ICC to reconsider its decision to allow the game to go ahead.
Last week, the council rejected an ECB appeal to have the match moved to South Africa because of concerns about the safety of players and officials. That decision was declared final and binding, leaving England with the prospect of travelling to Harare or boycotting the match and forfeiting the points.
The ECB, which is trying to avoid a possible £10-million claim if it refuses to play in Harare, will now try to have the game moved to a neutral venue, or ask that points be shared.
At the heart of the ECB’s submission to the ICC is a death threat sent to Lamb by a group calling itself the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe.
The group warned in the letter that the players would be ”coming home in coffins” and also threatened the players’ families.
After dismissing the letter as a hoax the ECB is now under stood to have received fresh evidence that the threat is credible.
Despite receiving the letter on January 20, and passing it to Scotland Yard, the British high commission in Harare and the ICC’s security and intelligence unit, Lamb did not tell the players until Friday evening.
This infuriated the players and their representative, Richard Bevan, managing director of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and relations between the two parties were strained as the weekend progressed. The breakdown in trust is so fundamental that it is considered unlikely both Lamb and Bevan will survive in their current jobs.
Bevan said the uncertainty had upset the players. ”This is the most traumatic thing I have ever seen a group of cricketers go through. This is the World Cup, something you dream about, and I have seen three players emotionally distraught at the fact they have not been able to focus on the cricket.” – Guardian Unlimited