ACC boycott threat 'irrelevant', says NZ chief

New Zealand hope to tour Pakistan in April and May after cancelling their scheduled visit there last September, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden said on Monday.

Snedden was reacting to a warning issued on Sunday by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who said New Zealand could face a boycott from Asian cricket nations if they did not tour Pakistan.

Snedden said New Zealand had not received any communication from ACC member nations and believed the boycott threat was "a little irrelevant" after New Zealand had said it wanted to tour Pakistan, and hoped to do so in April and May.

The NZC plan to send team manager Jeff Crowe to Pakistan at the end of the current one-day series against England, which finishes on February 26, to discuss security arrangements.

The original tour was postponed in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Snedden said: "New Zealand Cricket has received assurances from the Pakistan Cricket Board and directly from the Pakistan government that player safety will not be compromised while the team is in Pakistan.

"We believe it would also be sensible to send our own envoy to Pakistan to discuss security arrangements."

He added that there was a lot of goodwill within New Zealand to fulfil its tour obligations.

ACC president Tauqeer Zia pointed out on Sunday the potential consequences if New Zealand did not go ahead with their tour of Pakistan.

"India, who are due to tour New Zealand in November this year, will not go ahead with the tour if the Kiwis don't honour their commitment in April," said Zia in Sharjah.

"This is not a veiled or open threat. We are all members of the ICC and should honour our commitments," added Zia, who is also president of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"We are not talking only in reference to New Zealand, but any country from anywhere. If they don't come and play in Asia the four Test-playing countries of Asia would automatically refuse either to visit or host that particular country."

Mail Cricket Editor