New Zealand's cricket team remained hopeful of playing its match against Kenya at a South African venue, Kiwi manager Jeff Crowe said Friday, following the team's earlier announcement that it would not travel to Nairobi.
"All the documentation is in the hands of the International Cricket Council, so I don't want to elaborate right now," said Crowe.
"But from Sunday the role of administering the World Cup moves to the technical committee and they then can make the relevant decisions on match scheduling," he told the SAPA news agency.
New Zealand bowled the first bouncer of the 2003 tournament by announcing Friday they would not play in their World Cup match in Kenya on February 21 due to fears for the safety and security of players.
The announcement was met with disappointment by both the organisers and Kenyan cricket authorities, who Friday extended a fresh invitation to the Black Caps to play the fixture in the east African country.
Later Friday, the ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that he recognised the Kiwis' concerns and that he would be working to see if there was any prospect of the match proceeding or being rescheduled.
"The issue of safety and security is clearly the main concern of both the ICC and New Zealand Cricket and, at present, NZC is not satisfied
that it is safe to play in Kenya," said Speed.
"We will make available our intelligence and security advisors to provide a detailed briefing on the advice that we have received in relation to this game.
"There are also independent processes available to the NZC through which it can seek a review of the ICC's judgement and decision. NZC is entitled to seek this
review."
However, the ICC technical committee is unlikely to reverse a decision by its own body that the games in Kenya and Zimbabwe should go ahead.
New Zealand's announcement effectively puts Kenya at the top of Group B just over a week before the official start of the tournament, while putting the Kiwis at a points disadvantage which could make a difference when qualifying for the Super Sixes, the second stage of the event.
Kiwi vice captain Chris Cairns said the loss of points was a nonissue.
"That is for New Zealand cricket and for the politicians, not for me.
"I just want to focus on the event and right now all that's important for me is our first match against Sri Lanka," said Cairns.
Earlier Friday, New Zealand Cricket chief Martin Snedden announced in Auckland the team would not be playing in Kenya.
"The board concluded that on the basis of the information currently available the safety and security risk for our players is too high," Snedden said.
He said the ICC security delegation to Kenya had received information there was a "terrorist threat" in the east African country, specifically the capital of Nairobi.
Last year New Zealand pulled out of a tour of Pakistan after a car bomb exploded outside their hotel in Karachi while, in 2001, they were playing in Sri Lanka when an attack by Tamil Tiger rebels on Colombo airport left 18 people dead.
Zimbabwe is due to host six matches in the World Cup; Kenya, two.
The remaining 46 games in the tournament, opening in Cape Town on February 8, will take place in South Africa.
Kenya has been hit twice by terror attacks linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
In 1998, more than 200 people were killed when the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, in Tanzania, were bombed and last November, 11 people were killed in a car-bombing attack on a hotel in the coastal city of Mombasa.