The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
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Strang brothers 'frozen
out' | |||||
Paul, 33, believes he was dropped from Manicaland last season because he criticised the Zimbabwe Cricket Union's (ZCU) quota system during his time as head of the players' cricket association. And Bryan has now been barred from taking part in Zimbabwe's Logan Cup competition following his public objections to the way the game is run, according to reports. Bryan, 31, was among a group of players who said Zimbabwe should not be allowed to host matches during the 2003 World Cup. And he wrote to Wisden Cricketer magazine in February saying: "A union which promotes racial division and does nothing about hate speech should not be given the courtesy of touring democratic countries."
The pair's exclusion follows the retirement from international cricket of a number of Test players including former captain Andy Flower and pace bowler Henry Olonga, who wore black armbands during a World Cup match to protest against what they described as the "death of democracy". Leg-spinner Paul Strang played in 24 Tests between 1994-2001, taking 70 wickets and scoring 839 runs, including a top score of 106 not out, and also represented Zimbabwe in 95 one-day internationals. His younger brother took part in 26 Tests and 49 limited-overs internationals. "It came as a bit of a blow to be left out of the Manicaland side last year, particularly as I had played well the previous season," Paul told the BBC Sport.
"Bryan would have been happy playing second XI cricket, but when asked Manicaland they said: 'We definitely don't want him.' "It seems you have to be a 'yes man' and be a puppet on a string to play for the ZCU. They don't seem to apply the normal parameters for selection, but use other things than a player's statistics. "Do we all have to toe the line and be clones to play first-class cricket in Zimbabwe?" Henry Olonga says freezing out players who criticise the running of the game is typical of the ZCU. "According to the ZCU, they are an apolitical organisation, but the way they deal with any players who have shown any form of dissent is not consistent with that," he told BBC Sport. "I made my comments and I got censured. All sorts of things happened to me after I took my stance. "Many players who have had the freedom to speak their minds about what's happened in Zimbabwe very often find themselves ostracised." A Zimbabwe Cricket Union spokesman declined to comment. |