Crunch meeting

Australia to go ahead with Zimbabwe match

POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa (Reuters) -- Australia were still planning to play their World Cup match in Zimbabwe following a meeting of players and team officials on Tuesday.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Jonathan Brown, the Australian high commissioner to Zimbabwe, convinced the players that the political situation was not serious enough to jeopardize their safety at the game scheduled for February 24 in Bulawayo.

"There is no hiding from the facts the players do have some concerns about Zimbabwe, and what we are trying to do is make sure that they have as much information in front of them before they go to Zimbabwe," Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive James Sutherland told reporters.

"We are committed to working through a process with our players and making sure they have all the information in respect to safety and security.

"At this stage, we are committed to playing in Zimbabwe."

Australian concerns mounted after the country's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) warned its nationals on Monday to steer clear of World Cup matches in Zimbabwe, warning of possible violent protests.

The England and Wales Cricket Board made a formal request to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday to switch their team's match against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13 to South Africa.

"The Australian Cricket Board has always said that our primary concern is with the safety of our players and our officials and they are the issues we are facing," Sutherland added.

"From a players' point of view, they are cricketers and their focus is on what is the biggest event in world cricket and what they really want to do is play good cricket."

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said earlier on Tuesday that he and his team trusted the cricket authorities to make the correct decisions.

"It's in the back of our minds and I guess the sooner we know as players what's going on the better," Ponting said. "But saying that we've got full faith in the processes in place and the ACB and the ICC to make the right decision."

Tim May, the president of the Australian players' association who was also at the meeting, said the defending world champions simply wanted to get on with playing cricket.

"The players want to come here and just do what they are paid to do," May said.

Sutherland said Australian officials would be considering all their options before the match in Zimbabwe and could still change their existing plans to fly into the country three to four days before the Group A game.

"There's still 20 days to go and irrespective of whether there are matches there [in Zimbabwe] beforehand or not if the ACB is not comfortable with the safety issues around the players and officials going to Zimbabwe then we will pull out," said Sutherland.

"We've made the right decisions in the past and I'm sure we'll make the right decisions in the future."

 

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