After days of meetings, deadlines and death-threats, England have finally decided not to play their World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare.
However there remains a small possibility that the match could yet be played — perhaps in South Africa — later on in the tournament.
Briefing the media in Cape Town on Tuesday evening, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said the ICC had cancelled the match because of England’s refusal.
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) had repeated its concerns about the security situation in that country.
A technical committee would ”sort out” the consequences of the ECB’s decision to boycott the match, Speed said.
The ECB had also asked the ICC to consider rescheduling the match at a later date. A decision on the request would be made in due course, he said.
Speed said that, at a meeting on Tuesday, the ECB had presented the ICC with new evidence regarding the security situation in Zimbabwe.
Five of the remaining six matches scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe would go ahead.
”It will mean that if in fact the game isn’t rescheduled, it would mean that one less game is played but the World Cup will continue.”
Speed said he saw no reason why the other matches would not go ahead.
The technical committee would deal with the matter of financial compensation for the cancellation of the Harare game.
”These issues are further downstream.”
New Zealand, meanwhile, might rethink its decision to withdraw from a game, he said.
”There is a remote possibility that the New Zealand match scheduled for Kenya will go ahead and negotiations are proceeding.
The implications of the ECB’s decision could be far-reaching. England have sacrificed what little goodwill they had left going into the tournament, face the potential for huge legal costs, and also risk the disruption of the Test programme and the loss of influence on the ICC board.
Earlier today, South Africa’s top cricket chief Percy Sonn warned England that pulling out their match against Zimbabwe would be considered a ”major snub”.
”It is our tournament and they are obliged to follow their commitments, so if they do pull out, they will snub us as hosts of the tournament, and we will definitely have to look at that,” he warned.
Sonn, president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, also insisted that South Africa might have to apply similar standards when considering their scheduled tour of England.
”England talk of security fears (in Zimbabwe) but the ICC and the World Cup organising committee have investigated it and said it is safe,” said Sonn.
”On the other hand, there are a lot of problems in England — they have found terror cells there with poisonous gas planning attacks and they consider themselves a terror target.
”So we will have to look at their security as well. We will not send our boys into a place we consider to be unsafe for them.” – Guardian Unlimited