England’s Cricket Board told World Cup organisers on Monday its players won’t play in Zimbabwe because of security fears.
After three days of discussion with security officials and administrators, the ECB delivered the news in a letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Team captain Nasser Hussain and his players will forfeit the four World Cup points rather than risk travelling to the politically volatile country.
News of the decision came when details emerged of a letter from the ICC in response to the ECB’s chief executive, Tim Lamb.
”ICC Development International note that you are giving us formal notice that you are unable to fulfill the scheduled fixture in Harare on Thursday the 13th February,” the ICC wrote.
Monday’s long-awaited decision followed weeks of uncertainty over whether Thursday’s game in Zimbabwe would go ahead.
The ICC, the game’s world governing body, has stuck with his commitment that all six Zimbabwe-based games are safe to go ahead.
England wanted the game moved to South Africa on the grounds of safety, arguing that opponents of President Robert Mugabe have already threatened to disrupt the match and that will lead to violence.
The British government has accused Mugabe’s regime of human rights violations with more than half of his population facing starvation because of economic chaos caused by his policies.
The England players also received death threats from a group calling themselves ”The Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe”.
While the England and Wales Cricket Board, the players employer, dismissed the threats as a hoax, their representative, Richard Bevan of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, said he took the message very seriously.
The ICC’s technical committee, which acts as the World Cup organiser, rejected England’s request on Thursday saying they still regarded the six games being staged in Zimbabwe as safe. South Africa hosts 46 games and Kenya two.
England then appealed to one of South Africa’s top judges, Albie Sachs, who rejected their argument but made a plea for both the Zimbabwean government and political opponents not to turn the match into a scene of violence.
Zimbabwe, which hosted Namibia on Monday, also faces Australia, India and Pakistan on home turf and none have said they plan to boycott the games.
In another development, Zimbabwean stars Andy Flower and Henry Olonga wore black armbands during their game against Namibia to protest what they called the ”death of democracy” in the country.
”It is impossible to ignore what is happening in Zimbabwe,” the two players said in a joint statement. ”Although we are just professional cricketers, we do have a conscience and feelings.”
Meanwhile, in a snap survey this week the majority of South Africans who participated in the survey believed England’s World Cup team should not play its fixture in Zimbabwe.
”The majority — 51% — felt that England should steer clear of Zimbabwe entirely while 13% did not have an opinion on the issue,” Research Surveys said.
Ninety-three percent of those who felt that England should not play in Zimbabwe were of the opinion that the matches should be moved to another country. Only five percent felt that the scheduled games should be forfeited.
Only 37% of respondents believed England should play their scheduled World Cup games in Zimbabwe. Some 51% of the respondents said they agreed with the claim by the English players that it would be unsafe for them to play in Zimbabwe.
”One quarter of respondents felt that England should take a political stand and not play in the country while 23% felt that a combination of safety and political issues was reason enough for England not to play their match in Zimbabwe.”
South Africa hosts 46 of the 54 World Cup games with Kenya staging two. But New Zealand has threatened to forfeit its game in Nairobi fearing a repeat of November’s terrorist attack on a hotel in Mombasa which killed 15 people — three of them tourists. – Sapa-AP, staff reporter