WELLINGTON, July 13: The New Zealand government has asked the ICC to clarify their position on Zimbabwe after cricket’s world governing body said they had no plans to exclude the troubled African country from future tours.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Phil Goff had asked the ICC to change their policy on Zimbabwe because of concerns about human rights abuses under President Robert Mugabe.

Goff wanted New Zealand to be allowed to cancel next month’s trip to Zimbabwe without facing the sort of hefty fine could leave New Zealand Cricket in financial ruin and jeopardise their chances of co-hosting the 2011 World Cup with Australia.

International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ehsan Mani said on Tuesday that there would be no change to the Future Tours Programme regulations and it was up to the politicians to decide whether their players toured.

Goff welcomed Mani’s reply but said he wanted the ICC to clarify whether a resolution constituted a “clear directive” or if new laws had to be passed.

“If the ICC is saying that it would be sufficient for the New Zealand Parliament to pass a resolution ... we would welcome that,” Goff said.

“If that would relieve New Zealand Cricket of its obligations, I would welcome that.”

New Zealand are leading an international push to have Zimbabwe banned but their own cricket association have said they would proceed with next month’s tour to avoid paying the ICC a minimum fine of $2 million for any boycott.—Reuters