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World Cup matches will take place in Zimbabwe as planned early next year, cricket's ruling body has said.
A 10-man International Cricket Council (ICC) delegation, including chief executive Malcolm Speed, visited Zimbabwe last month to monitor the security situation in the light of the economic and political crisis gripping the country.
"As things stand at the moment, it is the view of the delegation that there is no good reason in terms of the safety and security of the players to relocate any of the six matches planned to be played in Zimbabwe in February and March, and they should continue as scheduled," Speed told a news conference on Thursday.
"In the intervening weeks, ICC and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) will continue to monitor events in Zimbabwe very carefully and if there is any significant deterioration in the perceived levels of safety in Zimbabwe this issue will be revisited immediately."
The matches in Harare and Bulawayo will feature hosts Zimbabwe, Namibia, England, India, Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan.
Speed confirmed there was a contingency plan if Zimbabwe became "too dangerous" -- the matches would be relocated to primary hosts South Africa. The same also applied to the two matches taking place in Kenya.
"There are many problems in Zimbabwe at the moment. Our aim with the World Cup in 2003 is to try to bring a positive element to Zimbabwe, to try to bring some pleasure to those people in Zimbabwe who are interested in the cricket," Speed said.
He added that 12 out of the 13 member boards of the ICC had voted in favour of the delegation's report. The Bangladesh delegate was unavailable and had not voted.
Zimbabwe Delighted
ZCU president Peter Chingoka said Zimbabwe was delighted to get the backing of the ICC.
"It's not less than we expected...but we are happy that the ICC has confirmed our role," he told Reuters on Thursday.
"For us, this is a very professional approach and we are happy that professionalism has won the day over those who were trying to get emotional and to drag politics into the game.
"We are delighted for Zimbabwe and for Africa and our co-hosting is going to help the game tremendously both in this country and on the continent," Chingoka said.
Following the ICC decision England said they would play their World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare.
"The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announces that in response to today's publication of the report from the ICC Safety and Security Delegation, it has decided to accept the delegation's recommendation that, as things stand at present, it would be safe and secure to play in Zimbabwe during the forthcoming ICC World Cup.
"Consequently, the England team will fulfil its commitment to play against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13, 2003," the ECB said in a statement.
No Politics
Both the ICC and the ECB said they would leave the politics of Zimbabwe to the politicians and pass comment only on the safety of players.
"As a national governing body for sport, the ECB does not consider it appropriate to make political judgements about the acceptability or otherwise of foreign governments," it said.
Britain is the African country's former colonial ruler and a fierce opponent of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme.
A junior British foreign minister had suggested on Tuesday that England should not travel to Zimbabwe. But the ECB said the British government had not put any pressure on it to stay away.
"Several countries over the last nine months have placed limited sanctions against Zimbabwe ... but it's worth noting that no country has imposed sporting sanctions of any kind against Zimbabwe," Speed said.
"Sporting sanctions are not a new weapon, they have been around a long time. Politicians have had many opportunities to use them against Zimbabwe but have not done so.
"Zimbabwe is one of the 10 full member countries of ICC. The cricket community in Zimbabwe has earned the right to host these matches.
Australia had earlier expressed concern about playing in Zimbabwe. An Australian tour of Zimbabwe was called off in March after the government advised its citizens not to travel there because of fears over election violence.
But following the delegation's visit to the country in November, the Australian board said it was satisfied with the arrangements.
Speed said, "Some members of the delegation were concerned by security and safety issues when we went to Zimbabwe but by the time we left, we were all convinced that the matches should go ahead."
The ICC findings have avoided a repeat of the 1996 World Cup episode when the Australians and West Indians forfeited one match each after they refused to play in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo due to security concerns.
A 10-man International Cricket Council (ICC) delegation, including chief executive Malcolm Speed, visited Zimbabwe last month to monitor the security situation in the light of the economic and political crisis gripping the country.
"As things stand at the moment, it is the view of the delegation that there is no good reason in terms of the safety and security of the players to relocate any of the six matches planned to be played in Zimbabwe in February and March, and they should continue as scheduled," Speed told a news conference on Thursday.
"In the intervening weeks, ICC and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) will continue to monitor events in Zimbabwe very carefully and if there is any significant deterioration in the perceived levels of safety in Zimbabwe this issue will be revisited immediately."
The matches in Harare and Bulawayo will feature hosts Zimbabwe, Namibia, England, India, Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan.
Speed confirmed there was a contingency plan if Zimbabwe became "too dangerous" -- the matches would be relocated to primary hosts South Africa. The same also applied to the two matches taking place in Kenya.
"There are many problems in Zimbabwe at the moment. Our aim with the World Cup in 2003 is to try to bring a positive element to Zimbabwe, to try to bring some pleasure to those people in Zimbabwe who are interested in the cricket," Speed said.
He added that 12 out of the 13 member boards of the ICC had voted in favour of the delegation's report. The Bangladesh delegate was unavailable and had not voted.
Zimbabwe Delighted
ZCU president Peter Chingoka said Zimbabwe was delighted to get the backing of the ICC.
"It's not less than we expected...but we are happy that the ICC has confirmed our role," he told Reuters on Thursday.
"For us, this is a very professional approach and we are happy that professionalism has won the day over those who were trying to get emotional and to drag politics into the game.
"We are delighted for Zimbabwe and for Africa and our co-hosting is going to help the game tremendously both in this country and on the continent," Chingoka said.
Following the ICC decision England said they would play their World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare.
"The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announces that in response to today's publication of the report from the ICC Safety and Security Delegation, it has decided to accept the delegation's recommendation that, as things stand at present, it would be safe and secure to play in Zimbabwe during the forthcoming ICC World Cup.
"Consequently, the England team will fulfil its commitment to play against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13, 2003," the ECB said in a statement.
No Politics
Both the ICC and the ECB said they would leave the politics of Zimbabwe to the politicians and pass comment only on the safety of players.
"As a national governing body for sport, the ECB does not consider it appropriate to make political judgements about the acceptability or otherwise of foreign governments," it said.
Britain is the African country's former colonial ruler and a fierce opponent of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme.
A junior British foreign minister had suggested on Tuesday that England should not travel to Zimbabwe. But the ECB said the British government had not put any pressure on it to stay away.
"Several countries over the last nine months have placed limited sanctions against Zimbabwe ... but it's worth noting that no country has imposed sporting sanctions of any kind against Zimbabwe," Speed said.
"Sporting sanctions are not a new weapon, they have been around a long time. Politicians have had many opportunities to use them against Zimbabwe but have not done so.
"Zimbabwe is one of the 10 full member countries of ICC. The cricket community in Zimbabwe has earned the right to host these matches.
Australia had earlier expressed concern about playing in Zimbabwe. An Australian tour of Zimbabwe was called off in March after the government advised its citizens not to travel there because of fears over election violence.
But following the delegation's visit to the country in November, the Australian board said it was satisfied with the arrangements.
Speed said, "Some members of the delegation were concerned by security and safety issues when we went to Zimbabwe but by the time we left, we were all convinced that the matches should go ahead."
The ICC findings have avoided a repeat of the 1996 World Cup episode when the Australians and West Indians forfeited one match each after they refused to play in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo due to security concerns.
