ECB withdraw from Zimbabwe on safety grounds

The ICC today announced that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had rejected the ICC's direction to play in Zimbabwe and the England team will not travel to Harare for its match on 13 February.

In a letter received today, the ECB cited on going security concerns as its reasons for the decision not to travel to Zimbabwe.

ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that the reason given by the ECB was it was not convinced that the England players and officials would be safe if they travelled to Zimbabwe.

"We are disappointed that the England team will not be travelling to Harare for this match but at least the ECB has now been able to reach a decision," said Mr Speed.

"The ECB has advised us that the well being of its players and officials would be endangered if it was to compel them to fulfil the fixture and the ECB considers that the present state of civil order in Zimbabwe dictates that the fixture should be relocated. rejected the assurances of a number of security experts and senior police officers and accordingly the match in Harare has now been cancelled."

The Event Technical Committee is now responsible for determining the consequences of the cancellation of the match.

This involves the allocation of the points from the game. The ECB has also asked the ETC to consider rescheduling the match to a venue other than Zimbabwe at a later date on the basis of its safety and security concerns.

This follows the ECB's application to the ETC and subsequent appeal to Justice Albie Sachs, both of which were declined.

For further information

Brendan McClements
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Mark Harrison
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