Zimbabwe matches given green light by ICC

The International Cricket Council has announced that World Cup matches in Zimbabwe will go ahead as planned. The games will take place provided there is no deterioration in security before the first game in Harare on February 10.

A formal announcement of the decision was made at a media briefing in London this afternoon by the ICC's chief executive, Malcolm Speed.

"Following my visit to Zimbabwe this week I gave a report to the ICC board," Speed told the briefing. "The board reaffirmed their earlier decision, which was that there was no reason to relocate the matches to be played in Zimbabwe."

"The ICC have sought to go through the issues with safety and security as the sole criteria and the security and safety of players and officials. There are factors that have occurred and continue to occur on safety.

"We could [switch venues] if the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates. There would have to be a cut-off point, probably with four or five days to go. They could be moved if the situation deteriorates drastically.

"I outlined a number of issues reported to have occurred in Zimbabwe but we need to put into perspective the issue of teams going in for a short time with a high level of security."

The England and Wales Cricket Board has accepted today's decision, but will ask the ICC to review it if the situation in the country deteriorates further.

England's game in Zimbabwe is due on February 13, and Speed said that could still be changed up until around five days beforehand. An ECB spokesman said they would be keeping a very close eye on the situation.

"We respect the ICC board's decision and will abide by it," he said. "However, if there's a further deterioration in the security situation in Zimbabwe then we will ask the ICC to review the position again. The safety and security of our players remains paramount to the ECB."

He added that discussions were continuing with England players out in Australia who want a break before they travel to the World Cup in southern Africa.

The ICC's decision on Zimbabwe is not unexpected, following comments by the tournament director, Ali Bacher, that he had been "reassured" by his security visit to Zimbabwe with Speed this week.

Speed and Bacher met with diplomats from Britain, Australia, South Africa, and Pakistan, as well as representatives from the Zimbabwean and South African police services, in Harare.

The trip was a follow-up visit to the ICC security delegation's fact-finding mission in November.

"We stressed that it was important that the games take place in the right cricketing environment," said Bacher.

"The police gave us an undertaking that they would permit peaceful demonstrations provided they go through the correct process of applications which state the time, date, route to be used and length of the demonstration.

"Those demonstrations must take place responsibly and our reaction was that this was not dissimilar from South Africa's laws on the matter.

"We also told him that we were mandated by the ICC to ensure that not one spectator gets onto the field in 54 matches and his answer was that there was no strategy on the matter as yet but that they would work with our security teams to ensure that this arrangement is in place."

A verdict on whether it is safe to go ahead with Kenya's two fixtures was deferred until next week.

Today's decison was criticised by the rights group 'Organised Resistance Zimbabwe', which accused the ICC of shirking its responsibilities and legitimising a violent regime.

"Zimbabweans will continue to be victimised because of the ICC's insistence that the cricket matches be played in Zimbabwe," said a statement released by the group this afternoon.