New Zealand's scheduled tour to Zimbabwe in July has been postponed until June 2010 because of Prime Minister John Key's opposition to the trip.
Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC), said the two boards agreed at an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Johannesburg to put back the three one-day matches due to the New Zealand government's lack of support.
"This is a pragmatic solution that allows the situation in Zimbabwe to be monitored over the next year," Vaughan said in a statement.
"Given Zimbabwe remains a full member of ICC we have continuing obligations to play them on a reciprocal basis, therefore this agreement is an acceptable outcome."
The centre-right National-led government, like the Labour-led administration it ousted last year, previously said it did not favour the tour to Zimbabwe.
"I'm pretty reluctant for the Black Caps to travel," Key told Television New Zealand on Monday.
"There are very real, genuine security risks for our players."
Zimbabwe has agreed to miss the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June to end a deadlock over demands for its suspension from international cricket because of Robert Mugabe's government.
The African country has not played Tests since January 2006 after the team were left depleted following disputes between senior players and the administrators.
No comments:
Post a Comment