New Zealand seek clarification on Zimbabwe

	Justin Vaughan wants a government call on Zimbabwe © Getty Images

New Zealand's tour of Zimbabwe in July is in doubt after John Key, the country's prime minister, made clear that his government would not be approving the trip.

"I'd be deeply sceptical about whether they would be going," said Key at his weekly news conference. "We don't support that regime. We don't support what's happening in that country, and we don't want to give a signal that we do."

His comments came after Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket's chief executive, sought clarification of his country's stance on touring Zimbabwe. Vaughan will meet with Murray McCully, the minister of foreign affairs, sports and recreation, later this month for further discussions.

"We're still assessing the situation and obviously there are numerous threads there," Vaughan said. "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."

New Zealand toured Zimbabwe in 2005 despite public comments from the then prime minister Helen Clark that she did not want the trip going ahead. She stopped short of barring the team from going, although John Howard did ban the Australian side from travelling there in 2007, and it is possible that this time Key would be willing to take such a course. "That [a government ban] would certainly take any decision away from me," Vaughan admitted.

During the ICC board meeting in Perth at the end of January, an ICC-appointed task team presented an interim report on the state of the game in Zimbabwe, who voluntarily stepped away from Tests in 2006. The team was headed by Julian Hunte, the president of the West Indies board, and included ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

Vaughan expected to receive an update on the ICC task force appointed to assess the current situation of cricket in Zimbabwe, at the chief executives' conference in Johannesburg on February 24 and 25.

Lorgat 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," he told NZPA. "If [NZC] didn't, we'd have to apply the principles that we've established."