ICC set England deadline over Zimbabwe protest

England have been given until 1600 GMT on Thursday to hand in an appeal to have their World Cup Group A match against Zimbabwe moved to South Africa.

England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman Andrew Walpole told reporters: "We have until 6 pm tomorrow night to deliver our legal submission to the World Cup technical committee."

The game was scheduled for Thursday but the England board refused to travel to the strife-torn country because of their players' safety concerns.

The ECB continued to argue after

losing a supposedly binding appeal over the issue after the International Cricket Council ruled Harare was safe.

The matter will now return to the tournament technical committee for a second time. It will decide either to switch the match to South Africa, cancel the game altogether and share out the points or award a win to Zimbabwe by default.

The ICC has yet to set a date for the committee hearing. Sources close to the negotiations said the matter was not likely to be resolved until next week at the earliest.