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Cricket team from New Zealand gets a Pakistan threat

New Zealand's cricket team has received a threat against its safety on a tour of Pakistan and four players have pulled out of the trip, New Zealand Cricket said yesterday.

The association said four players were unavailable for the tour, scheduled to begin next week and featuring five one-day internationals -- batsmen Craig McMillan, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris and fast bowler Ian Butler.

It said the players pulled out before the threat was received.

The New Zealand team's video analyst, Zach Hitchcock, will also be returning home after the side completes the one-day tri-series now being played in India.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said it received earlier this week a warning threatening the safety of the New Zealand side if it tours Pakistan.

``The threat is being discussed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and investigations are proceeding to determine its validity,'' NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said.

"We have notified the International Cricket Council [ICC] and the Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] of the threat and have entered into a consultation process with them.

"That process is expected to be completed over the next three or four days."

New Zealand's last tour to Pakistan in May last year was cut short after a bomb exploded outside its Karachi hotel, killing 14 people.

Next month's tour did not include Karachi, with matches scheduled for Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore.

"Following the traumatic experience in Karachi when the Black Caps last toured Pakistan we agreed that individual team members could make themselves unavailable if they were seriously concerned about safety," Snedden said.

NZC determined that the Black Caps would travel to Pakistan but each player and members of the team management were entitled to make an individual choice whether to make themselves available.
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