Wellington, July 13 NZPA - The International Cricket Council (ICC) says it is up to politicians to end cricket tours to Zimbabwe and not the ICC.
ICC President Ehsan Mani today formally rejected the New Zealand Government's request to alter its future tours programme.
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Mr Mani said in a letter to Mr Goff that the ICC had considered the Zimbabwe issue many times and it was not its place to make political decisions.
"In short, the board recognises that issues of the relationships between countries are driven by politicians and governments that are elected by the people to deal with these political issues," Mr Mani said.
"It is also recognised that governments will, from time to time, elect to use sporting sanctions as a tool in their foreign policy programmes.
"Our members accept and respect that where this clear directive is given by a national government, the obligations of the future tours programme will not apply."
Mr Mani said in no way did the ICC endorse political regimes of policies in any of its 96 member nations who had a common interest in playing cricket.
"It simply reflects the reality that it's for governments and politicians that are elected, to grapple with the complexities and difficulties of international relations between countries," he said.
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(Eds: SEEKING COMMENT FROM GOFF)
Presumably the bit in bold at the end means we can expect to see this story with comments by Phil Goff released shortly. The ICC have handily left things uselessly vague by not mentioning what a "clear directive" is - and also seem to be busily trying to sweep the actual implications of the force majeure clause under the carpet.
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