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SYDNEY - New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan is seeking clarification of the Government's stance on touring Zimbabwe as the national team's troublesome mid-year visit looms.
New Zealand are scheduled to play three one-day internationals in the turbulent African nation in July, under the International Cricket Council's (ICC) future tours programme.
The only way NZC can avoid heavy ICC sanctions is if Prime Minister John Key orders the national team not to tour, as former Australian leader John Howard did in 2007.
At the time, Howard said any tour of Zimbabwe would just provide an enormous boost for "grubby dictator" Robert Mugabe.
Vaughan said he would seek a meeting with Murray McCully, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sport and Recreation, within the next month.
"We're still assessing the situation and obviously there are numerous threads there," Vaughan said in Sydney this weekend.
"We'll be looking to understand the Government's position first and foremost, also the ICC task force are reporting back on Zimbabwe to the ICC conference (in June).
"There's a lot of information we need to get before we can make a decision on that."
New Zealand last toured Zimbabwe in 2005, for two tests and a one-day tri-series including India, after then-Prime Minister Helen Clark strongly urged NZC not to go, but stopped short of ordering the team to stay home.
Vaughan said he didn't know if the new National Government would take a different stance.
"That (a Government ban) would certainly take any decision away from me."
ICC sanctions for not fulfilling a touring obligation can spiral into millions of dollars and include compensation to the host nation for loss of broadcasting rights money.
Vaughan said the outbreak of cholera in the poverty-stricken country provided an "added complication".
He hoped to receive an update on the ICC taskforce report on Zimbabwe at the chief executives' conference in Johannesburg on February 24-25.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat this month said he expected New Zealand to tour for the good of the game in Zimbabwe.
"I would hope so because whatever exposure those players can get to good competition would certainly enhance their development," Lorgat told NZPA.
"If (NZC) didn't, we'd have to apply the principles that we've established."
Zimbabwe has just entered into a power-sharing administration, in which cabinet posts are shared between President Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, but weekend media reports suggest chaos and corruption still reigns.
Zimbabwe is still a full member of the ICC, but its test-playing status remains in limbo until the team can prove they are competitive in the longer version. They still have one-day international status.
- NZPA
