No other decision could have been made by New Zealand

No other decision than that made today by the board of New Zealand Cricket regarding forfeiture of their World Cup match in Kenya was possible.

New Zealand, more than any other country on the world scene, has been closer to serious injury and even death occurring from terrorist acts in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) could do nothing else.

The decision of the International Cricket Council to stand by Kenya as a venue for the match may have been made for all the right cricketing reasons, but realistically the New Zealanders, who last year escaped horrendous consequences by good luck rather than good management, have a different view.

The bomb that killed 11 French engineers in a bus outside theirs and the New Zealand team's hotel in Karachi on the scheduled first morning of the second Test against Pakistan was the closest call yet for a team which had ended its tour of Sri Lanka in 1987 when a bomb exploded in a downtown Colombo bus deport.

In 1992, an assassination by car bombing occurred right outside the team's hotel and caused the immediate disintegration of the tour with five players and their coach opting to return home and New Zealand having to prop up their obligation to Sri Lanka by flying players out from New Zealand.

No-one should doubt New Zealand's commitment to cricket around the world.

It has taken the risks and so far it has not had to pay any cost other than missing some cricket opportunities.

Given the strength of the intelligence received by what can only be described as reasonable security investigation in Kenya, New Zealand had little other choice than to forfeit their game.

That took strength because the points to be earned at Kenya's expense may well determine where New Zealand ends up in the final scheme of things at the World Cup.

But to have security information that came from American and Australian Embassy personnel, which was not sought by the ICC delegation on an official basis, and not put it to use would have been unfortunate in the extreme.

Once again chief executive Martin Snedden has had to make a difficult call. It has been an extraordinary 18 months in his position with a tour to Pakistan having to be cancelled, its replacement called off after the Karachi bomb, the abandonment of a women's tour to India because security was not available to an acceptable standard, a players' strike that demanded careful handling and now this.

These have not been easy times, but in a manner that has not often been demanded let alone seen by administrators in other positions in the game, Snedden has once again emerged triumphant.

He has had the full backing of the NZC board on the matter after a full day meeting today.

Extra security information was also presented to that meeting.

The issue is not over yet.

The ICC is clearly likely to be unimpressed and there could be monetary issues that come out of this and while a fine may be applied there could also be some fall out in the television revenues to be distributed after the World Cup.

That has a compounding effect on the way NZC runs its game.

But there will not be a New Zealander who doesn't applaud the decision that has been taken.

It has taken guts.

Snedden, a former international, who won praise during his career for putting his hand up and doing the extraordinary for the good of his team, has also been exposed to the terrorist threat himself in 1987.

However, even if New Zealanders did not back his move, he will have won the plaudits of his players and they surely have to be the final consideration.

The reality is that the security risk is too high, despite the protestations out of Kenya, predictable as they may have been.

New Zealand has carried the cricketing torch when others have dared not pick it up and this decision may yet be seen as the finest of them all as far as Snedden and NZC are concerned.