England will not play its Cricket World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare on Thursday.
Briefing the media in Cape Town on Tuesday evening, International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed said the ICC had cancelled the match because England refused to play in Harare.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had repeated its concerns about the security situation in that country.
A technical committee would "sort out" the consequences of the ECB's decision to boycott the match, Speed said.
| 'It would mean that one less game is played but the World Cup will continue' |
The ECB had also asked the ICC to consider rescheduling the match at a later date. A decision on the request would be made in due course, he said.
Speed said that, at a meeting on Tuesday, the ECB had presented the ICC with new evidence regarding the security situation in Zimbabwe.
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Five of the remaining six matches scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe would go ahead.
"It will mean that if in fact the game isn't rescheduled, it would mean that one less game is played but the World Cup will continue."
Speed said he saw no reason why the other matches would not go ahead.
| 'They are not going to Harare on the basis of that new information' |
The technical committee would deal with the matter of financial compensation for the cancellation of the Harare game.
"These issues are further downstream."
Earlier, World Cup director Ali Bacher confirmed that the match would not go ahead as planned.
"The match is not taking place in Harare on Thursday," Bacher told Reuters.
"What England have said is that they have new information and they are not going to Harare on the basis of that new information."
Bacher said the game was now being put back in an attempt to find a compromise and avert an England boycott.
"They will now be making a further representation to the technical committee," he said.
New Zealand, meanwhile, might rethink its decision to withdraw from a game, according to ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.
"There is a remote possibility that the New Zealand match scheduled for Kenya will go ahead and negotiations are proceeding," he said. - Sapa and Reuters
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