It has been reported in the cricket news that the Prime Minister was addressing press persons when he said, “I would be deeply skeptical about whether they would be going. We don’t support the regime, we don’t support what’s happening in that country and we don’t want to give a signal that we do.”

It is the view of the Kiwi PM that visiting the African nation would be neither healthy nor safe and that there were also moral and other objections to the regime of the country. "There are security risks for our players, there is the risk of cholera and quite frankly we don't support that regime and we've made that quite clear," said Prime Minister Key.

When a reference was made to the fine to be imposed by the ICC on nations that opted out of touring, Key said, “You have to ask the question, "Why would the ICC be fining New Zealand for not sending their cricket team to a country which is so dysfunctional that it is a high risk if our players go there?”

This is not the first in international cricket that a proposed tour of the troubled African country was stalled and ultimately cancelled. In the year 2007 as well, the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard had said that he was prepared to use passport controls to stop his team from touring Zimbabwe. The tour was ultimately called off.  Earlier, in 2005, the New Zealand government also objected to a scheduled cricket tour of Zimbabwe. At the time the law was required to be changed for the tour to be cancelled and the former New Zealand PM Helen Clark refused to change the law and the visit went ahead.

In January 2006, Zimbabwe Cricket announced that they were suspending the playing of Test cricket for the rest of the year after which they have not played a single test.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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