AUCKLAND, 7 January 2005 — New Zealand Cricket was yesterday attempting to organize a World XI series to salvage the first half of their summer international program after India declined to fill in for Sri Lanka’s canceled tour following the Asian tsunamis.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden said a decision on a World XI would be finalized next week and he understood India’s reluctance to tour at short notice.

“I was never hopeful but we didn’t have many options open to us, and we couldn’t afford to assume anything,” he said. The last-ditch World XI plan faces several obstacles, not least the need to quickly sell prospective television rights to make the series a financial reality.

A proposed three-match limited-over series would be an expensive exercise for NZC, which would have to fly players from all over the world, as well as pay match fees and bonuses for both teams.

Snedden said that adequate financial backing was critical if top-level players were to be persuaded to drop everything at a moment’s notice and head to New Zealand.

“The initiative effectively depends on enough high-caliber players being recruited to make the series viable, and in a nutshell that comes down to money,” he told The New Zealand Herald. “We want to be able to sell the television rights to underpin the series, and we’re working pretty hard on that at the moment.”

New Zealand Players Association spokesman Heath Mills said the next step would be to receive support from the respective players’ national boards. “We’re talking about Australian Test players not required on the One-Day International scene, Australian fringe players, and England Test players not involved in the one-day series against South Africa,” he said.

Shoaib Out of Charity Game, Tendulkar Unlikely to Play

In Melbourne, Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has ruled himself out of Monday’s fundraising match for victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake because of a hamstring injury. Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is also likely to miss the game with an elbow injury, though he will travel to Melbourne for the match between a combined Asian XI and a World XI, Cricket Australia (CA) said yesterday. “That’s more sensible (to withdraw) rather than to just go in and rip my hamstring off and rip my back off and (be) out of the team for six months or a year,” Shoaib said in Sydney.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was critical of Shoaib’s performance and commitment in the third Test against Australia in Sydney and has repeatedly failed to convince the fast bowler to reduce his extremely long run-up.

Shoaib, who did not bowl in Australia’s second innings after 15 wicketless overs in the first, defended himself yesterday.

“I was in agony, I couldn’t move,” he said. “I had slept on the floor all night. I’m not letting anyone down. I love playing for my country and my commitment is always there.”