CRICKET/World Cup: The England and Wales Cricket Board wasted little time in appealing against the International Cricket Council's rejection of their request to move England's game against Zimbabwe from Harare to South Africa.
The ECB asked for the switch, highlighting safety and security concerns of competing next Thursday with the threat of violent demonstrations by opponents of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the ECB request for the match to be switched to South Africa was "unclear and of uncertain reliability" - claiming the 150-page written submission depended largely on outdated information.
The ECB had three hours from the time of the decision to appeal - and made their minds up to do just that within the hour.
It means an appeal will be heard in Cape Town tomorrow by South African judge Albie Sachs, a member of the South African constitutional court, the highest-ranking court in the country.
If he upholds the ICC's ruling then England will be expected to play the game - and will lose the points if they decide not to travel for security or safety reasons.
Speed said on Sky Sports News: "If that were to happen it would be a big shame for the World Cup. We want to play all 54 matches in 2003.
"But we can't force people to get on a plane and go somewhere they don't want to.
"We just have to make the best decision based on the information we've received - and we've done that." The ECB's grounds for not playing the match in Harare included concern about economic conditions in the country, the fact that a South African cricketer, Errol Stewart, had refused to play in that country and the possible use of force by Zimbabwean police against crowds protesting against Mugabe's government at cricket games.
But Speed said the technical committee relied heavily on reports by security experts and after considering the evidence believed their decision was "a fair and honest" one.
Asked to clarify their criticism of the evidence presented by England, Speed said he understood the submission was done in a short space of time and included "some hearsay, broadcast and newspaper reports".
Speed and the remainder of the five-man panel - also containing World Cup executive director Dr Ali Bacher, Brian Basson of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, the ICC's Campbell Jamieson and independent member Sunil Gavaskar - were unanimous in their decision that the games must take place in Zimbabwe.
The crisis has cast a cloud over the build-up to the eighth World Cup, which is predominantly in unaffected South Africa. Zimbabwe host just six games and Kenya two.
England's players remained tight-lipped over the decision.
An England team spokesman said: "The players feel it would not be appropriate for them to comment at this stage of the process."
