WELLINGTON, July 25: New Zealand’s cricket team left for a controversial tour of Zimbabwe on Monday, amid political pressure on the New Zealand government to consider legislation to cancel the tour.

The Black Caps’ tour of the southern-African country has come under intense political scrutiny, with New Zealand’s government leading an international push to have Zimbabwe banned from the tour schedule due to concerns over human rights abuses under President Robert Mugabe.

However, the government has said it would not introduce urgent legislation proposed by the New Zealand Green Party to prevent national sports teams touring countries that violate human rights.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden told reporters the country had to honour its obligations under the ICC touring programme.

The ICC said the only reason the tour could be cancelled would be because of security or if the New Zealand government passed legislation preventing the team from going.

NZC would be hit by a minimum ICC fine of $2 million if they cancelled the tour for any other reason.

Snedden said NZC was monitoring the security situation in Zimbabwe. “We have a pretty careful safety protocol we go through on every tour overseas,” Snedden told Radio New Zealand. “We have security people on the ground in Zimbabwe.

“They have been there for a while and we are getting information back there is nothing at the moment to indicate that the tour should not proceed from a safety situation.”

The tour includes two Tests and a triangular one-day tournament with India. The first Test in Harare begins on Aug 7.—Reuters