February 20, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 18, 1423

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JOHANNESBURG, Feb 19: New Zealand’s request to have their World Cup match against Kenya switched from Nairobi to South Africa will be heard by the sports’ governing body on Thursday.

“The ICC (International Cricket Council) executive board will meet by telephone tomorrow...to consider New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC’s) application for the relocation of its match against Kenya,” the ICC said in a statement on Wednesday.

“An announcement on the application will be made by media release following the meeting.

“The executive board will hear NZC’s application in the first instance as NZC’s original advice that it would not play in Kenya was made before the start of the tournament, and before the Event Technical Committee came into being.”

New Zealand have had safety concerns over playing the Group ‘B’ game in Kenya on Feb 21 since a November bombing killed 16 people in Mombasa.

They have already warned they could appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Lausanne, and are well aware that a match forfeit against Kenya could prevent their team from progressing to the Super Six stage of the tournament.

Sri Lanka top the Group ‘B’ standings with 12 points, while New Zealand are second on eight, having won two of their first three games.

Should they forfeit the Nairobi game, though, they could only hope for a maximum of 16 points by the end of the group phase, leaving them open to being passed by West Indies or South Africa.

“In the end, though, all of those factors are irrelevant when it comes to players’ safety,” NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said.

NZC made their request to the ICC for the match to be moved on Saturday, the same day England were forced to forfeit a Group ‘A’ game against Zimbabwe after tournament officials rejected their security concerns over playing in Harare.—Reuters