England players want Zimbabwe match to be shifted

The English players on Monday requested 'an urgent review' of their scheduled World Cup match in Zimbabwe, asking the organisers to shift the game to South Africa where the majority of the matches are to be played.

In a statement issued through the Professional Cricketers' Association, the English players, currently in Australia, said, "We are all greatly concerned about the moral, political and safety issues that the fixture in Zimbabwe has raised. We strongly feel a fresh review should take place immediately."

"The players appreciate the difficult position and immense pressure that ECB chief executive Tim Lamb and the ECB have been under. The players are keen to support their Board and to come to a satisfactory resolution, but they want to urge all parties to move the fixture to South Africa and to pay the Zimbabwe Cricket Union appropriate compensation," the statement said.

England are to play their opening World Cup encounter against Zimbabwe in Harare on February 13, a match that the English political leadership wanted the team to boycott because of what they called President Robert Mugabe's 'illegal regime' in Zimbabwe.

The International Cricket Council had cleared the venue following fact-finding missions by two of its delegations and even the England and Wales Cricket Board had earlier said it would go ahead with the match because it could not take 'political decisions'.