Wellington, Jan 31: the International Cricket Council's (ICC) failure to transfer New Zealand's World Cup game in Kenya next month to South Africa has been slammed by the New Zealand Cricket Players Association (NZCPA). NZCPA chief executive heath mills said today the ICC did not have player safety as a priority and that the New Zealand players would be bitterly disappointed with the announcement this morning.

The government is concerned about the New Zealand cricket team playing in Kenya because of reports that al Qaeda groups are active in East Africa, Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff says. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) was under "real pressure" as it met today to decide on its response to the International Cricket Council (ICC) decision that the black caps' World Cup game in Kenya should go ahead, Goffs said.

He said the government had provided the NZC board with as much information as it could about the security situation in Kenya. "The board itself has taken quite extraordinary measures to find out about the situation," he said.

Bureau Report