Sunday Herald Sun
February 23, 2009
NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key is prepared to intervene if needed to stop the country’s cricket team from touring Zimbabwe.
The Black Caps are scheduled to play three one-day internationals in the strife-torn African nation in July under the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) future tours programme.
The only way New Zealand Cricket (NZC) can avoid ICC sanctions is if Mr Key orders the team not to tour.
Zimbabwe’s new sports minister, David Coltart, said last week they were obliged to tour and he asked New Zealand to give the new Zimbabwe coalition government a chance.
Mr Key has previously stated his reluctance for the team to go and repeated that on TV One’s Breakfast programme today, saying there were genuine security risks and health risks for the players.
Asked if he was prepared to step in Mr Key said; “potentially, yes”.
`There are some options that I am working through at the moment.”
Political repression continues in Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe, who ran his country’s economy into the ground, remains in power albeit now in coalition with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his party.
After almost 30 years of one-party rule by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, Zimbabwe’s economy has collapsed, with a widening cholera epidemic and spiralling prices.