ICC fails to convince NZ on Pakistan
Saturday, 16 August 2008
New Zealand's squad has not softened its view on attending the Champions Trophy despite a detailed security briefing by an ICC task force in Christchurch Thursday. Safety remains a prime concern and Heath Mills, the executive manager of the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association, will not be recommending the team attends the tournament, reports Cricinfo.
"In all honesty, nothing I heard yesterday has allayed our concerns," Mills said. Twenty-two of New Zealand's contracted players attended the lengthy and animated meeting along with team management and New Zealand Cricket officials. Worried players threw many questions at the out-numbered ICC representatives, who had arrived from a security assessment in Pakistan in an effort to convince the side to travel, but at this stage the official plea is unlikely to work.
David Richardson, the ICC general manager of cricket, is heading the task force, which also includes the communication manager Brian Murgatroyd, Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations chief executive, and a representative from the security firm Nicholls Steyn and Associates. Another ICC group, led by the chief executive Haroon Lorgat, will speak to English and South African players and officials in England next week.
"In all honesty, nothing I heard yesterday has allayed our concerns," Mills said. Twenty-two of New Zealand's contracted players attended the lengthy and animated meeting along with team management and New Zealand Cricket officials. Worried players threw many questions at the out-numbered ICC representatives, who had arrived from a security assessment in Pakistan in an effort to convince the side to travel, but at this stage the official plea is unlikely to work.
David Richardson, the ICC general manager of cricket, is heading the task force, which also includes the communication manager Brian Murgatroyd, Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations chief executive, and a representative from the security firm Nicholls Steyn and Associates. Another ICC group, led by the chief executive Haroon Lorgat, will speak to English and South African players and officials in England next week.