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Retired Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming has urged New Zealand Cricket to make a stand and remove from players' hands the decision of sending a team to the Champions Trophy tournament in strife-torn Pakistan.
Fleming said it was patently unfair if NZ Cricket, which is unlikely to make any hard-and-fast decision on the Black Caps' involvement in the September 11-28 tournament until after the ICC's next security report in two weeks, abdicated and put the issue back on individuals.
Up to half-a-dozen of the Black Caps' senior players are likely to opt out of the one-day tournament because of security fears, effectively creating a Black Caps emerging players team.
"It's an unenviable position for New Zealand Cricket to be in, definitely," said Fleming, who was in Tauranga yesterday in his role as national ambassador with real estate company L J Hooker.
"It's a situation we've been in before - a world tournament and security issues - when we refused to play in Kenya [at the 2003 World Cup], although back then New Zealand was on its own standing up to the ICC.
"This time we have some fairly hefty weight behind us in the form of Australia and England, which significantly changes the landscape and any potential repercussions."
The 35-year-old, who retired from both forms of international cricket in March, could understand senior Black Caps opting out, although he felt it unfair that fringe players and up-and-comers should then feel backed into a corner.
"I know I'd be reluctant if I was still there, although it's tough to say categorically without being privy to the security reports circulated.
"But it's only going to demean the tournament as a spectacle if three or four of the leading nations send second- string sides, which is why the national body needs to step in and make the decision."
It is unlikely, with the threat of a US$10 million ($13.5 milllion) fine, that New Zealand Cricket will opt to boycott a tournament already endorsed by the ICC.
Fleming, though, felt a measure of sympathy for Pakistan. "I know the situation mightn't be 100 per cent safe there, but there's constant bomb blasts in India, and Sri Lanka's reputation [when it comes to terrorism] is hardly squeaky-clean.
"You've got to wonder if Pakistan aren't questioning why they're the only ones being singled out."
Fleming returned recently from playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian IPL Twenty20 league.
He was left off Wellington's list of contracted players for next summer, but revealed he'll almost certainly commit for the domestic one-day and Twenty20 competitions with the Firebirds.
He said, "I'm not really that keen on turning up for Chennai in the IPL next year" - he is contracted for two more seasons - "against the likes of Shoaib Akthar and Brett Lee having not picked up a cricket bat for 12 months."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
