ICC find against England again, but ECB will not appeal

The bid by the England and Wales Cricket Board to have the World Cup match against Zimbabwe played at a South African venue has failed. The World Cup technical committee, which heard the fresh evidence that the ECB had to offer about security in Zimbabwe has, for the second time, dismissed that evidence and has awarded the points from the match to Zimbabwe.

This still left the ECB with an opportunity to appeal to an independent judge, as happened on the first occasion the technical committee dismissed their case, but chief executive Tim Lamb, speaking at a press conference shortly after the decision was announced, said that they would not be taking that option although convinced of the legal strength of their submission.

He said, "We feel we have done everything we could have done to persuade the ICC of the merits of our case.

"We feel the issue has gone on long enough. In the interests of the World Cup, it's time to move on and put the whole protracted and unfortunate episode behind us."

Lamb and the ECB's head of legal affairs, Mark Roper-Drimie, had attended the seven-hour meeting in Johannesburg yesterday in an attempt to reverse the technical committee's previous verdict.

However, despite presenting the new evidence that it would have been unsafe for England to have travelled to Harare, the committee was unmoved when presenting its verdict this morning.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed did say: "It's a decision which gives the committee no pleasure," but that will be of little consolation to England who now know that they must win at least two of their matches against the big three in their group - Australia, India and Pakistan - to have any chance of qualifying for the later stages of the tournament.

Sympathy also came from Michael Holding, the former West Indies fast bowler who was a member of the committee. He said: "I can understand their feelings because I have been through it too. I had to look at what the security professionals brought forward."

England's disappointment with the result of the hearing was in direct contrast to the sentiments of the president of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, Peter Chingoka, who said: "We are delighted. This puts the matter to rest and we can now focus on the tournament."

England too can now focus on the rest of the tournament, although without the cushion of the eight points that Zimbabwe now enjoy following their win against Namibia and their victory in the conference room.

However, despite the ECB's decision not to appeal against the loss of the four points, it is unlikely that this will be the last to be heard about the matter. England may now face calls for compensation from the ICC for refusing to play in Harare. On this point, Speed said: "I don't expect a quick resolution, not before May or June and certainly not before the end of the World Cup."