CRICKET: The New Zealand board yesterday announced its team would not fulfil the World Cup fixture against Kenya in Nairobi because of concerns the match could be a target for a terrorist attack. Paul Kelso reports.

The step, announced by New Zealand Cricket's chief executive Martin Snedden, contrasts with the approach of the England and Wales Cricket Board, which has resisted withdrawing from its match in Zimbabwe despite widespread security concerns.

Last year the windows of the New Zealand team hotel in Karachi were blown out by a terrorist bomb that killed 14 people.

New Zealand Cricket took the decision following a vote by the International Cricket Council's executive board on Thursday in favour of the match in Nairobi going ahead, despite concerns over the threat of terrorism. Last year 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack near Mombasa and missiles were fired at an Israeli charter jet.

The ICC took into account the findings of independent risk analysts Kroll Associates, who ruled the game could proceed, but the New Zealanders preferred to draw on information gathered on an ICC delegation visit to Kenya last month.

The ECB chairman David Morgan said he did not think New Zealand's decision set a precedent for England.

"I think England in Zimbabwe is a very different situation to New Zealand's regarding Kenya," he said. "There are very, very big questions in my opinion over the security arrangements in Kenya." Guardian Service