The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to penalise England four points if they maintain their stance over their World Cup match in Zimbabwe. England’s tournament opener was originally scheduled to be played in Harare on Thursday but the England board refused to travel to strife-torn Zimbabwe because of their players’ safety concerns. “The ICC should come to a firm and final decision whether Zimbabwe is a safe country or not for playing World Cup matches,” Jagmohan Dalmiya, President of the BCCI, said in a letter to ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. “If Zimbabwe is not a safe country, then shift all the matches from there. But if it is safe, award full points to Zimbabwe for the England match and levy a penalty of four minus points on England,” he added. The ICC has set England till 1400 GMT on Thursday to appeal to have their group A match in Zimbabwe moved to South Africa. The matter will be considered by the tournament technical committee in Johannesburg on Friday. The ECB continued to argue after losing a supposedly binding appeal over the issue after the ICC ruled Harare was safe. Other teams in group A have agreed to travel to Zimbabwe, with Namibia already having played there on Monday. Dalmiya argued in the letter: “The ICC management is bending backwards to protect the interest of the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and that too at the cost of the other competitors’ interest. We are shocked and rather surprised to go through media reports, which suggest that ICC is now planning to grant another opportunity to ECB to present allegedly certain new facts/reports before the event’s technical committee.” India are scheduled to play in Zimbabwe next Wednesday. “The intention of the ECB appears to cause intentional delay to pursue a wait-and-watch policy so that it can decide whether to go and play in Harare or skip the match and still qualify for the Super Six,” Dalmiya said. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union warned on Wednesday their team would not play the World Cup match against England if it was switched to South Africa on grounds other than security.
