England players back New Zealand

The England players, who want their proposed World Cup match in Harare on February 13th moved to South Africa on safety grounds, have expressed their support for New Zealand's decision to forfeit the points from their match in Nairobi because they are fearful of the security situation in Kenya.

The Professional Cricketers' Association managing director, Richard Bevan, said in a statement: "The PCA fully sympathise with the decision taken by New Zealand Cricket to forfeit their World Cup fixture in Kenya.

"Given the United States Embassy state a `critical alert' position in Kenya, and the statements made by their officials, I am sure we will be hearing much more on this subject from New Zealand Cricket over the next few days."

Bevan revealed that talks between his organisation, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are taking place on a regular basis. It is thought that there might be further developments on Monday with regards to England's fixture in Zimbabwe when control of the tournament has passed from the International Cricket Council to the World Cup Organising Committee.

In his statement, Bevan added: "The correct and most sensible decision would be for the England fixture to be moved to South Africa."

David Morgan, chairman of the ECB, commented: "I think England in Zimbabwe is a very different situation to New Zealand's regarding Kenya. There are very, very big questions in my opinion over the security arrangements in Kenya.

"Let's not forget that Australia and the West Indies refused to go to Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup, so perhaps that set a precedent for New Zealand."