A New Zealand Cricket spokesperson said that the country's cricket team will leave for its tour of Africa as scheduled next Monday "despite unrest in Zimbabwe," though it "will monitor the situation before deciding whether to continue into the country for two tests," according to Greg Stutchbury of REUTERS. Zimbabwe's capital Harare "ground to a halt on Wednesday as people stayed at home while foreign banks and most businesses shut down, in one of the biggest protests against high unemployment, an acute cash shortage and corruption for nearly a decade." The NZC spokesperson said, "We are continuing to monitor the situation. There is a bit of time and water to go under the bridge ... and at this stage it's business as usual." The team scheduled a nine-day training camp in Pretoria before it travels to Zimbabwe for "the first of two tests at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo." NZC said that the camp "would also give them time to monitor developments in Zimbabwe." New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade labeled the southern African country as having "some risk" due to the political unrest (REUTERS, 7/7).
