Windies help for Zimbabwe

THE  West Indies cricket Board is monitoring closely the developments in Zimbabwe’s cricket which is in turmoil. Derrick Nicholas, of the WICB’s operations department, said last week that the board was constantly in discussions with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU). “If we can do anything to help we would be willing,” Nicholas said. “The entire cricket world is concerned with developments there.” In recent months there has been unrest in Zimbabwe cricket with several players falling out with the authorities. Test captain Tatenda Taibu has quit the game. The Zimbabwe team is due to tour the West Indies from April 15 to May 14 for two Test matches and five One-Day Internationals. “We understand that there is a lot of uncertainty in Zimbabwe and we are monitoring the situation very closely,” Nicholas said.

“We are hopeful that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union would soon be able to have the matters resolved as we are quite eager to have them in the Caribbean for the tour.” Last week, the International Cricket Council (ICC) issued a veiled threat to Zimbabwe to sort out its internal strife or risk having Test status suspended. “While members have the freedom to manage their own sovereign affairs, they do not have the right to risk the integrity of the international game,” the ICC stated. In a joint statement to the CricInfo website, ICC president Ehsan Mani and chief executive Malcolm Speed said the point had been made clear to all parties in this dispute during discussions in recent weeks. Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute were recently questioned by police as part of a fraud investigation, and Taibu quit as national team captain in protest at the way the game was being run.

“The idea that the ICC can simply walk in and ‘take over’ one of our members is quite simply a nonsense,” the ICC said. “The ICC is well aware of the arguments against its stance and respects the rights of its stakeholders to take and express other opinions on the best way to resolve these difficult issues affecting Zimbabwe Cricket. “What is more difficult to respect are the attempts by some people to link issues that are not joined, to use rhetoric ahead of reason, and to advance extreme positions at the expense of striking a balanced view.” Then on Friday, Reuters news agency and the Associated Press both reported that the Zimbabwe cricket team had gone on an indefinite strike in protest against the way the national governing body was running the game. A statement from the Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers’ Association (ZPCA) on Thursday said no player would be available for national duty.

“In the light of the persistent and continued failure by both the chairman and the managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket to address the legitimate concerns of their players, effective immediately no player will train or avail himself for national duty,” the statement said. The statement added the “continued tenure” of Chingoka and Bvute was among the issues the ZPCA wanted addressed. Earlier this month a crisis meeting of stakeholders resolved to ask the government to order an audit into ZC’s affairs and to appoint an interim committee to run the organisation. The ZPCA also said the players in Zimbabwe’s series against New Zealand and India in August and September had still to be paid.

“In the face of burgeoning costs and at a time when most employees in Zimbabwe are receiving their annual bonuses the players have been overlooked by ZC and are still waiting for match fees, more than two months late,” the statement said. Zimbabwe is due to field teams in the Afro-Asian “A” Team Tournament in Bangladesh in January and in South Africa’s Under-23 domestic competitions this season. “Despite a number of recent attempts by the ZPCA and others to find a way forward with ZC regarding the various issues outstanding in the negotiations between ZPCA and ZC, there has been no progress,” the statement said.