World Cup committee to rule again on Zimbabwe match

While the news of Shane Warne's failed drug test shifted the attention for a few hours here yesterday, the controversy over England's World Cup match against Zimbabwe refuses to go away.

Although last night's announcement by the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that Nasser Hussain's team will not play in Harare tomorrow, the ECB stressed that it was continuing to seek a change of venue and still wanted to play the match.

The matter will now be referred back – on a date to be confirmed – to the same committee which refused England's original attempt to move the fixture last week. The ECB will present new evidence which it says threatens the security of the England team in Harare. This primarily concerns the validity of a group called "the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe" which sent death threats to the England team.

If the committee fails to give the ECB the result it wants, the board can appeal. That would be heard by Justice Albie Sachs, who gave last week's final ruling that the match should take place in Harare.

However, it will take some strong evidence for England to get the match rescheduled to a location outside Zimbabwe (and therefore to gain any of the four points available from the game), especially as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has said that it will not allow its players to play in group matches moved away from the country.

* The Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, who staged a black-armband protest against Robert Mugabe's regime on Monday, have been reported to the International Cricket Council by their own national cricket board.