The Road to Morocco could be on New Zealand's agenda

From one end of Africa to the other - that could be the case for the TelstraClear Black Caps this year.

As they play out the Super Six round of matches in the World Cup in South Africa over the next few days, the New Zealanders could be back on the African continent in August.

Instead of being on the south-eastern corner of the continent they will be on the north-west edge.

A tournament is being proposed for Morocco, the newest international venue in the game, and one of New Zealand's opponents in the series could be Australia, the side they meet in tomorrow's Super Six match in Port Elizabeth.

New Zealand Cricket's (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden told CricInfo today that he was exploring the possibility of going to Morocco.

The cricket authorities in that country had approached New Zealand to see if they were prepared to participate, Snedden said.

Apart from that he said he knew "virtually nothing" about the event and has sent an enquiry back to them about what was involved.

He said NZC would look at the tournament. No matches are scheduled for the New Zealand team at that time, but Shane Bond and Chris Cairns are playing in English county cricket then while Nathan Astle is expected to be still recovering from knee surgery he is to have after the World Cup.

New Zealand's obligations after the World Cup are their Test and one-day tour to Sri Lanka, starting next month, and a tour to India in October-November.

Snedden added that the Test match still to be played between New Zealand and Pakistan, in lieu of that match in Karachi last year which was abandoned after the terrorist bomb blast outside the New Zealand team's hotel, had not been placed on the match calendar yet.

The issue of New Zealand's withdrawal from the tour is before the International Cricket Council's disputes resolution committee at the moment and Snedden said he expected that Pakistan's administrators were waiting for that to be sorted out before discussing the matter with New Zealand.

"It is up to them to approach us," Snedden said. "It maybe as part of the disputes resolution process that it is discussed."

Pakistan are due to tour New Zealand for a short tour at Christmas this year.