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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Brit Cricket Team Threatened in Zimbabwe |
| 2003-02-10 |
| The England cricket team were last night refusing to play in their controversial World Cup match against Zimbabwe after death threats. Sensible. The 15-man squad have collectively decided to drop out of Thursday's game after a sinister group calling itself "The Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe" threatened players and their families if they played in Harare. The players were still locked in discussions last night, however, as officials from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) tried to find a way to save the game. Save the game ... how? The ECB was still hoping it might persuade the players to go or, at least, to defer their refusal until after Zimbabwe's match against Namibia in Harare tomorrow, to see if that match sparks violent protests. Why would it? The Namibians aren't pointing out what a thug Bob is. The letters, received by the players in South Africa last week, threatened the lives of them and their families, now and in the future, if they played in Harare. They were far removed from the cautionary letters which the England team had received in Sydney, which had merely set out the moral case for not going to Zimbabwe. The team were told by the ICC on Friday that the match would not be moved from Harare. The ECB had requested a move on safety grounds. It is understood that Justice Albie Sachs, the ICC-appointed judge, was aware of the death threats but ruled that a decision on whether to play was a matter for the team. Hot potato, hot potato! The team has been divided over the issue. One faction, supported by Alec Stewart, has been in favour of playing the match. However, the threats raised more concerns among players that it might lead to violence - leaving the team with "blood on its hands". The blood will be on the hands of one person, and we know who that is. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 G'Day Rizzo, Apart from saying "Please! Please!! Pretty please don't go to Zimbabwe!!", how could Howard of stopped our team from going to Zimbabwe. The Australian PM is not a dictator, he has no conceivable law he could invoke to prevent players going to Zimbabwe. There is no chance that there could be a law passed by Parliament that would give him the right to stop them. |
| Posted by: Russell 2003-02-10 21:49:06 |
| #3 If Blair had any guts and if Howard wasn't a confessed cricket tragic they would have stopped their national teams from playing there rather they letting commercial interests decide. |
| Posted by: Rizzo 2003-02-10 16:39:45 |
| #2 Bob is blaming Zim's current state of starvation on the Brits. The team didn't want to go in the first place, because of Zim's reputation for near anarchy and Bob's hatred of light complexions. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-02-10 09:54:41 |
| #1 sorry, genuinely ignorant.why are just the brits being threatened? |
| Posted by: g 2003-02-10 04:29:11 |