LONDON, Jan 31: New Zealand refused on Friday to play their World Cup match against Kenya in Nairobi next month because of fears over their players’ safety.
A day-long meeting of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) concluded the International Cricket Council (ICC) had been wrong on Thursday to reject their request to transfer the Feb 21 match to South Africa.
“The information received by the ICC security delegation to Kenya made it clear that there is a tangible terrorist threat in Nairobi and the board has seen nothing which changes that,” NZC said in a statement.
Security concerns over Kenya have intensified after a suicide bombing killed 16 people in an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in the city of Mombasa in November.
The tournament’s executive director Dr Ali Bacher confirmed the New Zealanders would automatically forfeit all four points.
Australia and West Indies lost their points at the 1996 World Cup when they refused to play in Colombo after bomb blasts the previous week.
“It’s unfortunate that the New Zealand cricket board meeting has taken the decision that they will not honour their obligation to play in Nairobi,” Bacher told a news conference in Johannesburg. “The show must go on and we will make sure this is a wonderful event for Africa.”
Kenya’s vice-president Michael Wamalwa said New Zealand would be handing victory to “terrorists” if they did not play in Nairobi and urged the Kiwis to reconsider their decision.
Kenya are now left with just one match in the showpiece tournament which begins with an opening ceremony in Cape Town on Feb 8. Sri Lanka are scheduled to play Kenya in Nairobi on Feb 24.
Six matches are scheduled for Zimbabwe, although both England and Australian players have expressed reservations about fulfilling their fixtures, with the remaining 46 in South Africa.
On Monday the England team issued a statement saying they wanted their game in Harare on Feb 13 switched to South Africa because of growing concern about the political situation in Zimbabwe.
The British government has put pressure on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to pull out of the match because of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s controversial policies which opponents blamed for creating food shortages and violence.
Richard Bevan, spokesman for the England players’ union, told BBC radio Nasser Hussain’s team could still decide to boycott the match.
“All options are open to the players,” he said. “Everybody wanted this fixture to be moved to South Africa.”
A statement from the Professional Cricketers’ Association on Friday urged the ICC to transfer the match and said it would be holding regular talks with the ECB amd the Foreign Office over the next fews days.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Thursday the England match could be switched at any time up to Feb 9.—Reuters