By RICHARD BOOCK in Port Elizabeth
New Zealand Cricket is keeping quiet about suggestions that it will reverse its decision not to send the national team to Kenya.
NZC had refused to comply with an International Cricket Council directive to play the game in Nairobi, arguing that all security reports indicated an unacceptable risk.
Its resistance to political or financial pressures won widespread praise, particularly from its own players, many of whom were caught up in a terrorist bombing last year in Karachi.
But now a different type of pressure is being exerted on the side - 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 under way," 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."
Fleming's cryptic remarks, coupled with the fact that NZC chief executive Martin Snedden has been in South Africa for 10 days talking to World Cup organisers, has added more weight to the suggestion that it may be considering a back-flip.
Snedden 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, considering the strength of its initial stance and the fact that terrorist threats in the region are more tangible as tension grows over Iraq.
The players will also sustain major damage to their halos. 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.
* England have been given until 5am tomorrow to hand in an appeal to have their group A match against Zimbabwe moved to South Africa.
World Cup schedule
Points table
Principles may be sacrificed for four points in Kenya
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