England declare their hand: we won't go to Harare

Cricket World Cup: Cloud hangs over showpiece tournament as national team fear for safety and top Australian player fails drug test

After weeks of wrangling, a series of inconclusive meetings and a seemingly endless series of press announcements, the England cricket team finally pulled out of their World Cup match against Zimbabwe last night.

Less than 48 hours before the team were due to take the field in Harare, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) that Nasser Hussain and his men would not be travelling to the Zimbabwean capital because their safety could not be guaranteed.

The ICC ruled last week that there was no reason the match should not go ahead. But the ECB has continued to request a change in the venue after receiving new security information, as well as death threats directed at Hussain's team. However, the ICC refused to budge, forcing the ECB into making its defiant announcement. This is not the end of an affair that has cast a huge cloud over the start of what should be the sport's showpiece event. England are still insisting that they are not refusing to play the match, but simply requesting a change of venue and talks will continue.

Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the ECB, said: "Firstly the ECB considers that the well-being of its players would be endangered if it were to compel them to fulfil the fixture in Zimbabwe. Secondly, the ECB considers that the present state of civil disorder in Zimbabwe dictates that the fixture should be relocated.

"Consequently the ECB has today advised the ICC that it will not fulfil the fixture in Zimbabwe on 13 February. We do not consider the ICC's direction to do so is a reasonable one in the circumstances that have exhaustedly been explained to the ICC, in writing and during meetings, over the past few days. We are sorry that matters have come to this. There are no winners in this situation."

In response to England's decision, Malcolm Speed, the chief executive of the ICC, said: "We are disappointed that the England team will not be travelling to Harare for this match but at least the ECB has now been able to reach a decision. It rejected the assurances of a number of security experts and senior police officers and accordingly the match in Harare has been cancelled."

The ECB took exception to suggestions that the match had been "cancelled", insisting that it was merely seeking a change of venue. The ECB does not want to be seen as the party that called the match off because it could face a huge compensation bill and would almost certainly see Hussain's team forfeit thepoints from the match.

The decisions on what will happen to the four points and whether to relocate the game are now the responsibility of the same committee that refused England's attempts to move the fixture last Thursday.

Police sources said the Zimbabwe Republic Police had been instructed to round up Britons admitted to Zimbabwe, particularly journalists, for instant deportation if England withdrew from the game.

New Zealand stated earlier that they would not be travelling to Kenya to play their group match on 21 February because of fears over safety, and Australia are still considering whether to travel to Bulawayo to play their game against Zimbabwe on 24 February.

In a World Cup full of statements, none has been more poignant than the one made by Zimbabwe's Andrew Flower and Henry Olonga.

In Zimbabwe's opening game against Namibia in Harare on Monday both players wore black arm-bands to bring attention to the plight of a country in which they say democracy has died.