By RICHARD BOOCK
New Zealand Cricket continues to keep its own counsel over suggestions that they will back down over their decision not to send the national team to Kenya.
NZC had initially refused to comply with an International Cricket Council directive to play the game in Nairobi, arguing that they could not be expected to place players' lives in danger when all security reports indicated an unacceptable risk.
Their resistance to political or financial pressures won widespread praise around the cricketing world, and particularly from their own players, many of whom were caught up in a deadly terrorist bombing last year in Karachi.
Despite their principles, it now seems a different type of pressure is being exerted on the side, this time involving the likelihood that New Zealand will be eliminated at the end of the first round unless they play Kenya and collect the four probable points.
Monday's first-up loss to Sri Lanka dealt a huge blow to New Zealand, who now have to beat the West Indies tonight and South Africa on Sunday to qualify for the second part of the competition, the Super Six.
Asked after the Sri Lanka loss if the result made any change to the Kenya situation, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was surprisingly non-committal, and created the impression that the decision not to play in Nairobi might be revisited.
"The process is still underway," Fleming said.
"It [the Kenya game] is an obvious thing to look at, but we trust that the right decision will be made by NZC.
"We've got total confidence in them and whatever they decide."
Fleming's cryptic remarks, coupled with the fact that NZC chief executive Martin Snedden has been in South Africa for the past 10 days talking to World Cup organisers, has added more weight to the suggestion that they may be considering a dramatic back-flip.
Snedden, who tends to communicate with the media intensively when it suits his cause, has kept a low profile during his stay in the Republic and has still not officially requested that the game in Nairobi be rescheduled, which has only fed the speculation.
If there is to be a backdown, NZC will find it hard to explain without suffering a good deal of egg on their face, considering the strength of their initial stance and the fact that terrorist threats in the region are more tangible as tension grows over Iraq.
The players will also sustain some major damage to their halos, in that they were prepared to boycott the game themselves if NZC failed to intervene, and were lavish in their praise of the national body once the decision was made.
Snedden remained in Cape Town yesterday, where he is apparently holding discussions with ICC officials over the fate of the Nairobi match, scheduled for next Wednesday.
NZC media liaison officer Simon Wilson said there would be no comment on the matter.
"The only comment on this issue will come from Martin Snedden, and at the moment he is unavailable."
World Cup schedule
Points table
Cricket: Principles may be sacrificed for four points in Kenya
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