Story ProgressBack to home
NZ cricket team leaves for Zim tour
The New Zealand cricket team left on Monday for its August series in Zimbabwe as lawmakers continued to press for the cancellation of the tour.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:54 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Christchurch: The New Zealand cricket team left on Monday for its August series in Zimbabwe as lawmakers continued to press for the cancellation of the tour. The Parliamentary Green Party, which has rallied opposition to the tour in protest at human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, said it was not too late for the New Zealand government to intervene. "I'm not sure they (the cricketers) understand what they're getting themselves in to. It's going to be one hell of a learning curve for them to be in a country which is disintegrating before our eyes," said Green Party co-leader Rod Donald told reporters on Monday. New Zealand is due to play two test matches against Zimbabwe and a series of ODIs against Zimbabwe and India on a tour which begins on August 4. Human rights The New Zealand government has expressed abhorrence of the human rights record under Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe. But it has refused to legislate to keep the team at home, a move the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said is necessary to prevent New Zealand Cricket from incurring financial penalties if the tour does not proceed. New Zealand Cricket said it will abide by its contractual obligation to tour Zimbabwe under the ICC's future tours programme. Failure to make the tour could lead to fines of up to 2 (m) million US dollars (euro1.66 million) and demands for the reimbursement of revenue lost by the host nation. Opinion polls in New Zealand have shown strong public opposition to the tour but only narrow support for legislation to keep the team at home. The government has indicated it will withhold visas from the Zimbabwe team which is due to make a reciprocal tour to New Zealand in December. The New Zealand cricketers were flying to Namibia on Monday to fine tune for the tour. (AP)
Topics mentioned in this article
Cricket New Zealand Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.